Diminishing Return by Joseph D. Newcomer

Newcomer’s latest is not a good book, it’s a great one.

It’s the first book in quite a while that made me truly think. It made me think about life, death, love, friendship, the general dumbing-down of public discourse and entertainment, the occasional, apparent, futility of existence. Pretty heady stuff for a relatively short (205 pages) work.

When I finished the book, I closed my iPad and sat there. Just thinking. Thinking about the book and all the themes and thoughts Newcomer (@josephdnewcomer) put into it. I sat there for nearly 30 minutes.

You should read this book. You may not need it, but you’ll know someone who does. Buy it and give it to them. Don’t skip the resources Newcomer lists at the end.

That was my review for Amazon, and I stand by it. However, it’s time to unleash the Feral-o-meter on this book.

This book was tough to navigate for the first two chapters. Lots of expository writing and “this is the way it works, just go with it,” non-science. I was really close to quitting the book at the end of Chapter Two, particularly after the over-used scene of the protagonist hitting a golf ball off the roof a building. I’d probably hit a few balls myself in the same situation, but it’s been done, and recently. (I Am Legend comes to mind.)

I decided to give it another chapter and am glad I did. I decided to take the Queen’s advice to Alice about believing impossible things for at least a half hour each day. I got over my science hubris and trusted that Newcomer would pay me back. He did.

Minor Spoilers follow.

Because modern entertainment stinks, society turns more-and-more to recycling old stories, songs, etc. Original creativity ceases to be worth the effort. Everyone gets implanted with a device that allows video to be streamed directly into your brain. Then time travel is accidentally invented, and our dystopian romp is off.

People prefer to live in the consequence-free past and opt out of real life. Eventually enough of us do it that time stops in a thing Newcomer calls “The Pause.” It’s like reality, but time doesn’t progress. The Protagonist is one of a very few who prefer to live in The Pause.

For a bit, it’s all Last Man on Earth fun and games. Then…

Major Spoilers follow.

The Protagonist stumbles across a girl who was in the process of committing suicide when time pauses. She ends up with a slowly revolving bullet next to her temple. The bullet somehow follows her wherever she moves.

Newcomer alternates Point of View between chapter segments. In one, he follows the Protagonist in third person. In the next, we’re first person in the Protagonist’s head as he writes a letter to the indeterminate future. Took me a while to catch on.

Back and forth he teases out the story and the themes of depression, hopelessness, friendship, and suicide.

It’s worth the read and you will know someone who needs to read this book.

Science rants:

There are several, but the biggest one is this: The bullet continues to rotate but has ceased to translate – it’s spinning and nearly in contact with the girl’s temple. Why would the Pause allow motion about one axis, but not along that same axis?  I dunno. Newcomer doesn’t know. The Protagonist doesn’t know. It just works that way. Believe the impossible thing and move on.

The Feral-o-meter puts the story at a solid 8. It deals with weighty topics and devolves into short rants at times. It’s a story worth reading. 

The science comes in at a 1. Just go with it.