Meet Me in Another Life by Catriona Silvey

* * * 3/4

Two people. Infinite lifetimes. One impossible choice.

Thora and Santi are strangers in a foreign city when a chance encounter intertwines their fates. At once, they recognize in each other a kindred spirit—someone who shares their insatiable curiosity, who is longing for more in life than the cards they’ve been dealt. Only days later, though, a tragic accident cuts their story short.

But this is only one of the many connections they share. Like satellites trapped in orbit around each other, Thora and Santi are destined to meet again: as a teacher and prodigy student; a caretaker and dying patient; a cynic and a believer. In numerous lives they become friends, colleagues, lovers, and enemies. But as blurred memories and strange patterns compound, Thora and Santi come to a shocking revelation—they must discover the truth of their mysterious attachment before their many lives come to one, final end.

Source: NetGalley; ARC generously provided by publisher in exchange for an honest review

I have so many feelings about this book. It's a unique concept and once things make sense you realize it's a race to the finish.

Thora and Santi meet at college for the first time and their brief encounter leaves a lasting impression. When Thora decides she wants to see him again she finds out it's too late. He's dead and she can only guess how it happened. And this is how the rest of Part I goes - a series of what feels like short stories where Thora and Santi meet over and over again at various stages of their lives. Each encounter is a different experience with different outcomes. Part I requires some patience because there's no explanation, just these moments that either give us a new side of these characters or reinforce their personality traits. Part II is where things start coming together and they try to find meaning in what's happening. Sometimes they get close, others they're simply not capable of getting their acts together. We're not told how or when precisely they figured out they're reliving multiple lives (I would've like to have been clued in on that) but by Part III it gets intense and they finally discover what exactly is going on. It was at this point that I thought the author was genius because she did hide clues in plain sight in Part I. The clues and patterns make sense now.

Here's the thing: when I requested Meet Me in Another Life it came after I saw someone recommend it and I thought it sounded like something totally up my alley. The problem is that certain plot points which wouldn't have bothered me in the past became so after I made my request.  As well done as it was, some of it was just too emotionally raw for me. I've never been one who absolutely needed content/trigger warnings, and I've always respected other readers that do, therefore I have tried to include anything I see as potentially disturbing to a fellow reader in my reviews. This marks the first time ever I wished that I had the benefit of knowing those in advance. I would like to stress that this isn't the author's fault; it's just bad timing and I had a hard time with parts of the story. 

Would I recommend this book? Yes. If you like fantasy, sci-fi, endless do-over opportunities, mysteries and riddles, endless talk about stars, space and existentialism, a literal life or death situation that needs to be resolved ...they're all in this. Like I said earlier, it's pretty genius. I'd just caution you that the sad elements happen repeatedly - even if they're reliving their lives a little differently, those elements almost always make an appearance, and I've included them at the end of my review.

~ Bel

Content Warning/Triggers:

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Cancer, brain tumor, deaths, accidents,