The writing is exquisite and the plot unique. My only issue was there was too much description, too many paragraphs included about the sex lives and acts of the main characters. I am not saying that there shouldn't have been any - it was crucial to the story and character definitions - I just would have liked to have read less of that and had more to read about the 2nd tier characters ( )

I loved [b:Shine Shine Shine|13167199|Shine Shine Shine|Lydia Netzer|https://d2arxad8u2l0g7.cloudfront.net/books/1325702786s/13167199.jpg|16422717], so I jumped on this when I found it in our local little library. In conclusion, I think Lydia Netzer basically can only write one book. Also, I'm pretty sure I will happily read that book as many different ways as she would like to write it. The book is this: quirky and star-obsessed scientist(s) -- in Shine Shine Shine an astronomer; here a pair of astrophysicists -- face obstacles in their love for each other, but are just too quirky to really integrate with the rest of society. The conclusion is a light, but deep-hearted, geeky romantic comedy formula that seems to be just my speed.

I was worried the premise of the mothers setting up their children to be soul-mates would turn out to be twee, but the twists it took from the back cover saved it, in addition to the other plot elements. I liked that Irene and George were full characters with personalities and goals beyond their romance and the quirkiness.

This isn't a perfect novel -- George and Irene's respective initial significant others are pretty one-dimensional and seem to exist for comic relief alone. A bizarre narwhal-filled interlude is cute but unharmonious with the rest of the novel. It's clear it was Netzer's pet scene (and she says as much in the afterword) and she couldn't quite pull it out even when it was clear it wasn't working.

Lydia Netzer may only write one book, but, in my foray into literary fiction I've learned that 90% of literary fiction is the same retread "modern novel" over and over and it's very dull. So I'll take her repetitive, but geeky, quirky and fresh novel as many different ways as she wants to write it. ( )

Reads like a first novel, in the best possible way (though it’s actually a sophomore outing). This story is so full of ideas, histories and emotions that I can’t believe it didn’t germinate and grow inside the author’s brain for an entire lifetime before bursting forth in full bloom. I can’t wait to go back and read other works, or for something new to come. ( )

Although it was a little disjointed I thoroughly enjoyed the relationship between George and Irene - and the raunchiness. I loved how George's visions were so strange at first and in the end made perfect sense, although I'm sure most readers knew where that was going. ( )

Just a quote:

"Sleep is a shallow death we practice every night. City after city, as the earth turns and rolls around the sun, we lie down and close our eyes. We try out this thing, death, for an eight-hour stretch. New York, Toledo, Dallas, Los Angeles: we all go down. Our sleeping minds blur the boundaries between our bodies and our idea of the world into what would otherwise be madness. In sleep we have no senses but imagined senses, no grasp on fate except a lunatic's idea of control. Being crazy is like being asleep, and being asleep is like dying. It's just like dying, because the body needs to do it. It has no choice." ( )