Wealth of Time

 

Wealth of Time – by Andre Gonzales

Although the late James Michener mainly wrote fiction, he included a lot of real history and facts when writing about his subject matter. In the late 1980’s, Michener wrote a book ABOUT writing a book titled “The Novel”. One of the more interesting tidbits I remember is that Michener stated that out of every 900 unsolicited manuscripts a publisher receives, they reject 899 of them. That’s a scary fact for an unpublished author.  The bad news is that in the electronic age, I would imagine the publishers are even more inundated since it takes a lot less effort to send over a raw novel.  The good news, though, is that maybe with a much larger array of platforms in the digital world, it might just be a bit easier for a struggling author to get their work to the masses.

I mention this because this novel seemed as though it probably fit into such a category. I don’t know the background, but several of this author’s works are free with Amazon Kindle Unlimited, and after reading this book, I would find it difficult to believe that there was any sort of bidding war going on between the major players of the publishing field for this book.  That sounds crass, and that really isn’t my intention. This isn’t a bad book, but it’s a far cry from what most would consider a “great” novel.  If publishers truly reject 899 out of 900 novels, maybe this book would have made the cut if they only rejected, say 850.

This is a “time travel” book.  It’s a very obvious rip-off of Stephen King’s 11/22/63.  The similarities are everywhere, and if one were to read these two books side by side, I think you would clearly be able to comprehend the point I made in the first two paragraphs.  Had Gonzales had, say, a co-author to give him ideas and pointers, this book would have been much better.  His ideas and directions that he takes with the book are nicely done, it’s just that the journey with pen and paper (or word processor) is a bit forced and laborious.

The main problem is that the author doesn’t let this story breathe.  It’s a 300-page book that really needs about 800 pages to be properly told and have a strong impact on the reader.  Less isn’t always more when it comes to the printed page, and brevity can actually be a hindrance. You get the feeling the author is trying to hurry up with writing this book so he can quickly move on to the next one (I think he’s written at least 5 others in this “series”).

Example, after our protagonist goes back in time 22-years (the reason isn’t necessary to mention here) he quickly meets a woman.  They have an interaction that almost sounds as contrite as this:

 

Man: Hi. My name is Martin and I need a girlfriend to fall in love with in order to make this story that I’m in more interesting. Would you be interested?

Woman: Sure. I guess. Why not?

 

So Martin quickly gets a love interest so we can take our plot in a certain direction that wouldn’t have been possible if he didn’t have a steady sweetie.  This book needed about 35-50 more pages so we could explore the chemistry between these two individuals, but the author, again, is more concerned about quickly reaching the finish line then spending an adequate amount of time allowing us to know and care about his characters.

Of course, ANY time a fictional character goes back in time, they can’t resist visiting the global events that made headlines and shocked the world – good or bad. Martin isn’t any different. He strays from his “mission” as he revisits a well-known horror that happened 22 years ago, and he wants to change the outcome and prevent the eventual suffering.  Sounds like a good idea, but as Stephen King taught us in 11/22/1963, the past is obdurate. It doesn’t like people trying to change it.  This world of time travel is no different.

Once we get to the big “ah-ha” at the end, and Martin learns the reason behind the event that he came to witness, it again seems rushed and forced.  Had the author spent a few more chapters talking about these people that we eventually encounter, some motivations, and maybe a few more characteristics, it would have been a much more satisfying conclusion. It’s simply too much “check of the box and move on”.

Again, the story being told is a good one, the storyteller himself, though, could use a bit of polishing.  The book ends with the potential for “more adventures” and I believe there are a total of six “Wealth of Time” books.  Whereas I don’t think I’ll be reading any of the others, if these books were picked up by a television producer, they just might be able the flesh these things out a tad better and make something really good out of what is here.

So yes, it’s very easy to criticize the author and the writing style, but with James Michener telling us just how rare a breed that published authors are, you get the feeling that Andre Gonzales is still probably better than most.