There Will Never Be Another You

By Carolyn See

Book Overview

"Carolyn See has written a novel alive with wit and love and energy-a book about things falling apart that turns out to be a day at the beach. . . . Pure joy."-Joan Didion

Accomplished author Carolyn See triumphantly returns to fiction-seven years after her last novel was published-with this provocative, vibrantly written new novel. Set in a security-obsessed world that eerily mirrors our own, There Will Never Be Another You captures the paranoia and propaganda of a volatile time and place in which humanity's divisions run deep and society sits on edge-and one Southern California family faces profound crises from within and without.

It is a moment in the near future when the global threat of terror has cultivated rage, apathy, and panic across the country. People fear that "anybody could be armed, or have a bomb. Or a disease. Or all three." For Phil, a dermatologist at the UCLA hospital, it is a time of unease and uncertainty, in stark contrast to the days when he coasted through life on his good looks, a modicum of charm, and only haphazard effort. Now Phil must deal with his mother, Edith, who's been grieving over the death of her husband for several years and only recently has thought to reconnect with a family that seems to have other priorities. Phil's energies are already divvied up among his belligerent children, his wayward wife, and his unreliable mistress.

Then Phil's life takes a dramatic turn: He is recruited for a top-secret team whose task is to act quickly in the event of a biological or chemical attack. The assignment just may provide him with a renewed sense of purpose. Yet dire circumstances force Phil to make profound decisions that will affect not just himself and his loved ones but the entire country. It is a chance for an ordinary man to rise from mediocrity to heroism-and at which failure would prove to be catastrophic.

Foreboding and all too plausible, There Will Never Be Another You is a cautionary novel of family and society, where a na ve past is replaced by a menacing future in which distinguishing between reality and imagination proves to be more challenging than ever.

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0345440471
• ISBN13: 9780345440471
• Release Date: September 2007
• Publisher: Ballantine Books
• Length: 272 Pages
• Weight: 0.45 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.6" x 5.3" x 8.0"

Customer Reviews

There Will Never Be Another Now

Smart, sophisticated and true-to-life in its treatment of characters' inner voices, See's narrative is a model of brevity and concision. There is a mood of wistfulness evident, for life in general and for these lives in particular. The opening's nostalgic mood reminds of Chris Isherwood's great A Single Man, while the story line of an epidemic that never quite arrives can't help but bring back a few flashes of DeLillo's White Noise. But the tour-de-force is the linking together of the very sensitive scenes with kids, grandkids, couples both young and not so young, of characters of all ages in fruitless struggle and showing hopeless strength against the slow but inevitable pace of existence. What is past has really passed, See is saying. The foreboding sense of a passing plague, the sense of a passing end to things, these characters' angst embodying their sensitivities as each one must decide what to save of his/her life, what to try and take as each passes through the present. As a father, I couldn't help but make my hero Edith's son Phil. That choice for me made Carolyn See's There Will Never Be Another You the perfect story of a father's responsibility--a "guy" book even. No matter age or gender, this book is a gift.

There Will Never Be Another You

This was an unexpectedly good book. Once I started it I couldn't put it down. I finished it in a couple of hours. It was a very real story with a strange twist. I thought about it a lot after I finished it. I am surprised it isn't on a best seller list. If Oprah was still doing her old book club it would be an Oprah pick for sure.

A Brilliant Tale

Through the eyes of a savvy widow and her physician son, Carolyn See spins a compelling tale from the trenches of post 9-11 Los Angeles. As her characters deal with the eternal angst of troubled relationships, messed-up kids and the penalties of aging, threats of bioterrorism add a chilling element to the mix. Never flinching as she confronts our worst fears, Ms. See transcends the anxiety of today's world with wicked humor and page-turning narrative. And in the end she shows us that even in appalling times, we still have choices. We can laugh, love, and sometimes even dance. This is a book you'll want to read more than once and share with good friends.

There has never been another Carolyn See

This book is up there with the late Carol Shields "Unless." I just got it, the day it came out, and have read it three times and all my friends love it as well. Why so great? It's pace is pitch perfect, the various voices work wonders and the ending is so gorgeous it blew me, a writer too, away. In addition, See is hilarious, generous, and writes as if it is easy, which we authors know is not so. I don't think anyone here wouldn't simply LOVE this book. Go, Carolyn See, may you have great success with this masterpiece filled with love, prophecy, sadness and most of all, somehow you managed to be hilarious all the way thru. You are my ideal writer. Thank you so much.

Pure Magic

See can write about LA like no other writer. The layering of lives and the magic of living in an insane place like LA is central to this book. If you read Golden Days and liked it then you will love this one too. She is at the top of her form here. Her books always give me the feeling, that no matter how hard life is, that something really wonderful can always happen. Full of craziness and end of the world dread and most of all....hope. You will love this book. Clancy