The Last Time They Met

The Last Time They Met

2001 • 326 pages

Ratings1

Average rating2

15

I'm tempted to read other reviews before writing mine. I was pretty much flummoxed by this book almost the whole way. The inverted timeline threw me for the first loop. The unusual formatting of the dialog in the first 2/3rds of the book—but not the final 1/3rd—really confused me.

So, it turns out that Tom and Linda are 52 in the beginning of the book, seeming to be old lovers who are meeting again. In the middle of the book, they are 26 and having an affair. At the end, they are 17 and starting to date.

So much of what happened in the book turns out not to have happened in real life, but you have to read the whole book to understand why that's important. It's definitely and unusual concept even if you like books with time travel type timelines.

Overall, it's a well-written book, hence the four stars, but somewhat unsatisfying in its logic, to me anyway. The ending did and didn't surprise me. I think I caught on to what would happen halfway through the final third of the book.

March 17, 2022