When Chris Schweitzer takes a hit of whippets and passes out face first on the cement, his nose isn’t the only thing that changes forever. Instead of staying home with his friends for the last summer after high school, he’s shipped off to live with his famous physicist but royal jerk of a father to prove he can “play by the rules” before Dad will pay for college.
Or . . . not.
In an alternate time line, Chris’s parents remain blissfully ignorant about the accident, and life at home goes back to normal–until it doesn’t. A new spark between his two best (straight) friends quickly turns Chris into a (gay) third wheel, and even worse, the truth about the whippets incident starts to unravel. As his summer explodes into a million messy pieces, Chris wonders how else things might have gone. Is it possible to be jealous of another version of yourself in an alternate reality that doesn’t even exist?
With musings on fate, religion, parallel universes, and the best way to eat a cinnamon roll, Me Myself & Him examines how what we consider to be true is really just one part of the much (much) bigger picture.
Me, Myself and Him by Chris Tebbetts Review
A Humorous Adventure of Identity and Friendship
It is the last summer before Chris leaves for college and he has so many plans with his friends. However, after taking a hit of whippets and face planting the pavement (or ‘the accident’ as Chris refers to it), lands him in the ER, Chris ends up going to stay with his father for the summer away from his friends… or does he?
When I sat down to read this book, I only had a little time to spare, so decided just to sample the first few chapters. A few hours later, I had finished the book. After the first two chapters, the story had me gripped tight and wouldn’t let go. It is a coming of age story like none other I have read before.
The way Tebbetts writes this story is really clever. It follows two alternate timelines. One where the cause of Chris’s accident is found out and he is sent to stay with his father and one where his parents do not find out the true issues and he stays to spend the summer with his friends. The chapters alternate between the two different timelines. Tebbetts does a great job laying out Chris’ story and the alternate paths his life could have taken.
The theme of parallel universes was extremely interesting. Many times Chris mentions how anything is possible if you can imagine it. This had me thinking of all the possibilities in life and all the different versions of myself there could be out there. However, at times switching between the two universes brought me out of the story and I had to remind myself which version I was reading. At times, I felt more invested in the timeline where Chris went to stay with his dad. Chris’ character had much more growth and the conflict between him and his dad was great to read.
Other character interactions I enjoyed included the friendship Chris formed with Gina in the same timeline. Gina was a great character. She is extremely religious and her beliefs clash with Chris’ but the friendship they build is beautiful.
It felt at times, in the version where Chris stays at home with his friends, as if his character didn’t have as much growth. He seemed very childish and stayed that way. It led me to wonder if our personalities could really be that different depending on the circumstances we face.
The concept was different but in a good way. Once I got used to the switches I did enjoy both story’s, even if I did slightly prefer one version of events. I struggled with a star rating for this one. For me, it sits firmly in-between a 3 and a 4 star. It’s a fabulous book, especially if you can connect with both timelines equally.
Published by: Penguin Random House
ISBN: 978-152471-522-9
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Thanks for reading and reviewing! Glad you enjoyed it!