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Recursion

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Recursion
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Recursion

2019 | Science Fiction/Fantasy

What if someone could rewrite your entire life?

"My son has been erased." Those are the last words the woman tells Barry Sutton, before she leaps from the Manhattan rooftop.

Deeply unnerved, Barry begins to investigate her death, only to learn that this wasn't an isolated case. All across the country, people are waking up to lives different from the ones they fell asleep to. Are they suffering from False Memory Syndrome, a mysterious new disease that afflicts people with vivid memories of a life they never lived? Or is something far more sinister behind the fracturing of reality all around him?

Miles away, neuroscientist Helena Smith is developing a technology that allows us to preserve our most intense memories and relive them. If she succeeds, anyone will be able to reexperience a first kiss, the birth of a child, the final moment with a dying parent.

Barry's search for the truth leads him on an impossible, astonishing journey as he discovers that Helena's work has yielded a terrifying gift--the ability not just to preserve memories but to remake them . . . at the risk of destroying what it means to be human.

At once a relentless thriller and an intricate science fiction puzzle box, Recursion is a deeply felt exploration of the flashbulb moments that define us--and who we are without them.

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Blake Crouch
Published by Crown Publishing Group
Edition Hardcover
ISBN 9781524759780
Language English

Main Image Courtesy: crownpublishing.com.
Images And Data Courtesy Of: Crown Publishing Group.
This content (including text, images, videos and other media) is published and used in accordance with Fair Use.

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Added this item on Mar 23, 2019

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Recursion Reviews & Ratings (7)
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57.1% (4)
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Christine A. (965 KP) rated

Jul 8, 2019  
Recursion
Recursion
Blake Crouch | 2019 | Science Fiction/Fantasy
10
8.3 (7 Ratings)
Book Rating
Wow! A well-thought-out and well-executed story with great writing. Just wow!
I was provided with a complimentary copy of this book so I could give an honest review.

Wow! Wow! Wow!

I write 200-word reviews. They are exactly 200 words. For Blake Crouch's Recursion, my review could be just writing the word "wow" 198 times and to end it with "read this!".

I rarely rate a book 5 stars. They have to be extraordinary, either extraordinarily written or be an extraordinary story. This was both. I also usually write my reviews soon after finishing a book but I needed time to decompress and process this story.

I was a Psychology major and had several people close to me suffer from Alzheimer’s so I am fascinated by memory. In Recursion, in 2007, a scientist works to create technology to preserve our memories to help her mother who has Alzheimer’s. In 2018, people suffer from False Memory Syndrome, an affliction that drives people mad with memories of living an entirely different life, a life they never lived.

Recursion asks, "what if you could go back through your memories and “fix” them? Change events in order to protect children, countries, civilizations." Would you?

I have wanted to read Blake Crouch for more than a decade but did not get around to it. I am annoyed I did not read him sooner.

This review was published on Philomathinphila.com on 7/2/19.
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Heather Cranmer (2721 KP) Jul 9, 2019

I just started reading this book. I am loving it so far. It draws you in right away!
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Heather Cranmer (2721 KP) rated

Jul 15, 2019  
Recursion
Recursion
Blake Crouch | 2019 | Science Fiction/Fantasy
10
8.3 (7 Ratings)
Book Rating
I want to start this review by saying that science fiction isn't my usual genre that I love to read. However, I loved Dark Matter by Blake Crouch, so I decided that I'd give Recursion by Blake Crouch a read since the synopsis intrigued me. I was absolutely blown away by Recursion!

Helena, a nueroscientist is working on a chair to help people with memory loss like her mother who suffers from Alzheimer's. She has it almost all figured out, but she lacks the funding to make her dream a reality. Funding comes in the form of Marcus Slade. Together, Slade and Helena work together to create a chair that can send people back in the past and change memories. However, when people start suffering from False Memory Syndrome due to the changing of memories, Helena wants to stop. Slade won't allow it. Together with Barry, who was forced to have his memories changed, Helena will stop at nothing to stop her memory chair from being used for bad, even if it means dying again and again.

I'm not a very scientific person. (In fact, science and math were my worse subjects in school.) This book does use a lot of scientific jargon that went way over my head at times, yet I was still very intrigued. There are enough context clues to figure out what's going on without all the scientific speak. I felt the plot was solid for Recursion, and scarily enough, I could actually picture this becoming a reality in the not too distant future. Blake Crouch has a knack for writing books that seem so lifelike and in the moment. There is plenty of action in Recursion, and there's also enough mystery to make the reader wonder what is going to happen next. Due to being able to go back to different memories and plotting different outcomes, Recursion is full of little plot twists. There's no cliff hangers in this book, and all my questions were answered by the last page.

The characters in Recursion were so very lifelike! Barry reminded me at first of a dad who loved his family, especially his daughter, very much. He seems like a down to Earth guy and just very well rounded. I admired tenacity to always want to make things right. I also loved Helena's character. I loved how she was willing to do whatever it took, including death and extreme pain, to try to make things right. Helena was an extremely intelligent woman, but she wasn't conceited about it. I felt like Slade's heart was in the right place, but greed took over. I felt like Slade was the perfect antagonist, and his personality reminded me of many people in power and those with a lot of money. I enjoyed reading about each character's story in each memory. I found that to be extremely interesting.

The pacing for Recursion was perfect. This book held my attention from the very first page until the very last word in the book. Not once did I ever become bored or lost while reading this book. I was hooked from the get-go, and I couldn't wait to read more of Recursion every time I was interrupted.

Trigger warnings for Recursion include profanity, mentions of drug use, alcohol use, profanity, sexual references (non graphic), death, violence, some gore, and murder.

Overall, Recursion is quite the read! It's got a thrilling plot and memorable characters throughout! I would love to see this book made into a movie. I think it would do very well! I would definitely recommend Recursion by Blake Crouch to anyone looking for a book that will keep them hooked from the beginning. Regardless of if you're a science fiction fan or not, Recursion is the kind of book that will please any reader.
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Amy Norman (1048 KP) rated

May 4, 2021  
Recursion
Recursion
Blake Crouch | 2019 | Science Fiction/Fantasy
10
8.3 (7 Ratings)
Book Rating
Loved this, and much like all the other reviews I have read, I struggled to put it down.

For me, Blake Crouch is breathing life back into the genre, his storytelling is remarkable, and I cannot comprehend how he weaves such fantastical 'worlds' into single books.

There is too much to unpack in a review, and I would hate to say anything to spoil the experience of the story, so please do go ahead and enjoy it for yourself!
Set some time aside though as it *will* grab you quickly, and draw you in with barely any time to breath.
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Taylor Jenkins Reid recommended (curated)

 
Recursion
Recursion
Blake Crouch | 2019 | Science Fiction/Fantasy
8.3 (7 Ratings)
Book Favorite

"Blake Crouch knows how to write sci-fi thrillers that will have you desperately turning the pages long into the night. (And that’s as someone who doesn’t even like that many sci-fi stories or thrillers.) Recursion is out of this world fascinating and kept me guessing even to the very end."

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Recursion reviews from people you don't follow
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Matt Biedrzycki (195 KP) rated

Dec 11, 2020  
Recursion
Recursion
Blake Crouch | 2019 | Science Fiction/Fantasy
7
8.3 (7 Ratings)
Book Rating
Fascinating Great Read
I had previously read Dark Matter by Blake Crouch and enjoyed it, a friend recommended this book. I'll admit that just reading about the book I wasn't running out to get it. I eventually bought the book and I was surprised how much I did like it. It's a fun and unique read.