2025 Reading Challenge discussion

*Featured Buddy Read*
This buddy read is featured on the homepage and is pinned to the top of the August Buddy Reads folder. Otherwise it works just like every other buddy read!

If you are new to Buddy Reads, check out the sign-up thread for instructions and to sign up for future buddy reads!

You can join in the discussion even if your name isn't on the list!

This thread is to discuss Dark Matter by Blake Crouch.

Pages: 342 pages

Length: 1 month (August)

Participants: Lorraine, M, Blagica, Valerie, Cordelia, Kristy, Beth

Everyone reads at their own pace during a Buddy Read. Because participants can be at different parts of the book at different times, it is extremely important to mark spoilers so that the book is not ruined for someone who is not as far along as others!!!

Mark spoilers by placing {spoiler} before the text and {/spoiler} after the text but use the < and > instead of the { and }.

Here are some questions to help get the conversation started! Feel free to look up discussion questions specific to this book or come up with your own. Just make sure any questions that contain spoilers are under spoiler tags.
Discussion questions are not required but may be a fun way to talk about the book and get to know each other!

Prior to starting:
What prompted you to join this buddy read?
Have you read this author before? What do you think of their other books?

Mid-read:
What character or ideas do you relate to the most and why?
Do you have any favorite quotes or scenes?

After reading:
What was enjoyable or not-so-enjoyable about this book?
Did this book change your perception about anything, either within the book (character development) or in real life?

I'll join.

I’ve just finished Dark Matter. I ended up reading it earlier than planned because it fit a prompt for the Readathon that just wrapped up. (view spoiler)[I have to say, I didn’t enjoy it as much as the Wayward Pines series. Even though Dark Matter was written after Pines, it felt—at least to me—a bit less polished.

Maybe it’s just that the multiverse concept doesn’t quite click with me; it’s not my favorite theme in science fiction. That said, I’m still glad I read it, and I’m curious to check out Recursion, which seems to be another big hit from the same author. (hide spoiler)]

Karin wrote: "I'll join."

Welcome Karin. Looking forward to read your thoughts on this book.

Starting this one tomorrow. It’s the first book of this author for me.

Valerie wrote: "Starting this one tomorrow. It’s the first book of this author for me."

I've read three by him, and liked two at 3 stars plus one at 4 stars, but I'm not usually a very high rater.

Read the first 5 chapters. I noticed the Robert Frost reference and thought that (view spoiler)[ his poem The Road not taken where two roads diverge and ‘I took the one less travelled by/ And that has made all the difference’ may give some insight into what is going on. I suspect there will turn out to be a combination of the weirdness of quantum mechanics and parallel universes before we find out (hide spoiler)]. Very readable so far although I do find his style a little flat and shallow. We’ll see how it develops.

End of chapter 10. Certainly some clever and thought provoking ideas along with the action. Some of the mystery is becoming clearer but there are still plenty of unanswered questions. (view spoiler)[ My main two would be how can more than one version of the same person exist in the same world - and what happens when they do? Are these parallel worlds part of the multiverse or are they emanating from the minds and emotions of the characters? (hide spoiler)]. Lot of threads here, I’m interested to see if the author can manage to knit them all together coherently by the end of the novel.

Finished. Going to give this one a bit of a mixed review. (view spoiler)[ On the one hand it’s certainly based on a clever premise which leads to some fascinating speculation. I’m sure we’ve all wondered about our own roads not taken at one point or another. It did meander a little in the middle, but generally it was fast paced and kept me turning the pages to the end (which I did more or less guess as the only possible way out for them). However, my problem is that the book left me cold without engaging me emotionally at all. I think that is partly his writing style and partly the lack of depth to the characters- especially Daniela and Charlie who we really learn very little about. So an enjoyable enough read but not one that really made an impact (hide spoiler)]

Valerie wrote: "Finished. Going to give this one a bit of a mixed review. [spoilers removed]"

This one was mixed for me as well, but for somewhat different reasons.

My hold with Libby just came through, so I'll be starting this soon.

I love the Wayward Pines series, so I hold great hopes for this!

I enjoyed this book. Found it a good read. Though I wont even pretend to understand the science behind it.

Cordelia wrote: "I enjoyed this book. Found it a good read. Though I wont even pretend to understand the science behind it."

It doesn't matter if you understand the science, because it's fiction and you can't actually travel through time this way. It makes a good vehicle because it sounds like it might be possible.

Just one problem is that the earth has never even been close to being in the same place twice in the entire existence of life on earth, so the earth was too far away to move back if it were possible. I have deleted far too much information I typed about this.

Finished today. I also have mixed feelings about the book, but for different reasons that others of you.

(view spoiler)[I thought it was a bit tedious and uninteresting for maybe 1/3 or more of the story. In that way I reminded me a bit of the Wayward Pines trilogy. I remember reading book 1 of that thinking, "yeah, ok, what's so interesting about this? Some random guy is in a weird situation, and right now I have no clue what's going on and don't see a path for moving this forward." But there comes a point when--BAM!--I'm suddenly engaged and INEVERWANTTOSTOPREADINGTHISBOOK!!!!! The middle 1/3 was more interesting as he and Amanda were traveling through different doors. I was really glad when she left him for her own sake. I like that she realized that together they would never find the answer each of them individually was looking for and so had to part. Then the last 1/3 when Jason was traveling on his own... that's where things really picked up and I did not put the book down until it was over. (hide spoiler)]

Unlike Valerie, I did not think of that as the potential ending, and I was very moved by the choice that was made.

Obviously, there is so much symbolism about the importance of the connections we make in our lives, that finding "our people" makes any journey worthwhile, the life you envision for yourself is worth fighting for, how taking the "road not traveled" can make a huge difference in how our lives play out, etc. I enjoyed all of that!

The "science"? Yeah, I didn't even bother to try to understand it. I just went along for the ride.