That of a Nostalgic Future (Chapters 1 - 5) by immatrytoread

Reviewed by -bethwrites-

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Overview:

That of a Nostalgic Future is the story of an emerging author with a seemingly dark past who is intrigued by a shady, reclusive man that he meets at a bar. The book is set in Germany, and the author does a great job of describing the surroundings to set the mood. This is a slower paced story so it takes a while for the plot and characters to be developed, which is partly due to the fact that most of the writing is focused on reminiscence and musings rather than plot driving. The dialogue and mannerisms of the characters are very old-timey, so at a quick glance it would

seem as though this story is set sometime in the 1800-1900's, although things such as the black Toyota in the first chapter show that this is set in present times.

Plot (so far):

CHAPTER ONE

Chester is shown here as a young man who enjoys sitting in the middle of crowded, public places and practicing mindfulness, or meditation as he likes to call it. He ends up meeting Benton after the latter snickers at an attempt of a drunk woman to hit on Chester, which Chester takes as a good reason to follow the man outside and demand an explanation. His background as an anonymous bestseller author is also described here, as well as the possibility of him having a dark past.

CHAPTER TWO

It is revealed here that Chester is also a bartender, and it seems kind of odd that this wasn't made clear in the first chapter. Chester encounters Benton here again, this time as he served Benton some drinks. Benton asks him to read a passage that he supposedly wrote, and mocks Chester's approval of it by telling him he was just an "amateur commoner." Chester begins to debate on revealing his true self, an accomplished writer, to Benton.

CHAPTER THREE

Benton comes to visit again on Christmas Eve, and just as Chester winds up to ask him if he was interested in working as Chester's writing partner, Benton leaves for an "urgent situation." This leaves Chester to ponder on the man's background, which leads to a long philosophical rant about human nature being to judge based on appearance.

CHAPTER FOUR

The POV here suddenly switches to Benton's, and the readers are informed that Benton is a journalist. It turns out that Benton had written a story that didn't meet the editor's expectations on what a newspaper that millions of people read a day should carry, and as a result, he was fired. Benton suddenly has a flashback of an incident he witnessed, where a professor laughed at a transfer student who was being bullied, and he begins to ponder what it means to be a bully.

CHAPTER FIVE

Chester's background, on how he dropped out of law school to become an author, is described here. He runs into Benton in the street and after inviting him to dinner, reveals himself to be the bestselling author Patrick Micheals, and asks if Benton would be interested in becoming his assistant writer. Benton accepts, the two part ways, and Chester asks himself, does he crave fame after all?

Characters:

All of the characters use this formal style of speech that was probably meant to imply the two were intelligent, well learned men. Chester is an author, while Benton is a recently fired journalist, and the two with their mannerisms and backgrounds are perfect candidates for working together. There isn't much character development though, as the two mostly ponder on great, philosophical things and keep up witty banter. It takes more than just the first five chapters to reveal what Chester's dark past is, or even make a dent in the progress of finding out what it is.

Writing Style:

This book is written in a slow format that is designed to make readers ponder deep questions along with the characters. It does not do much to the story plot-wise, and may actually pull the reader's attention away from the actual story. Flowy, descriptive words are used a lot in the narrative, and this makes the book cumbersome to read at times. Otherwise, it is very polished.

Summary:

That of a Nostalgic Future appears to be more focused on contemplating the big questions that drive the journey of life, rather than a tangible plot. There doesn't seem to be much rhyme and rhythm to why these characters continue to run into each other, just that they do. The concept behind the book was a thoughtful one, and is good for people who like a laid back, philosophical read rather than a plot driven one.