Everything You and I Could Have Been If We Weren't You and I

It is some time the future and people want more – more time for work, for play, just more - and a drug has been found that allows people to stop sleeping giving them that more. There is one downside, though; the end of sleep means the end of dreaming. Marcos has never wanted to give up sleeping. In fact, it may be the thing he likes best in the whole world. But his mother, the woman who taught him everything about life and love and dancing, has just died, leaving him bereft and now he wants a change, something to help him cope so he decides he will take the drug. However, just as he’s about to do it, he is interrupted. Something has happened that will change his life completely in ways he never could have imagined.

Everything You and show more I Could Have Been If We Weren’t You and I
By author Albert Espinosa is an oddly quirky book about life and grief and the importance of dreaming. It skips around changing time and place at will, often disjointed and it is not always clear how things, people, and thoughts are connected, very much like a dream full of strange events and even stranger people, one that doesn’t seem to make sense until you think more deeply about it and then realize it is telling you something important.

I’ve always thought that dreams are advertisements; some long, like paid programming, others short, like movie trailers and others teasers. And they all speak of our desires. But we don’t understand them because they seem shot by David Lynch.

Everything You and I Could Have Been If We Weren’t You and I is a beautifully written book that asks a great deal of its readers if they are to fully appreciate it. But, for those who are willing to look deeper and who appreciate the resonance buried underneath, it is a book full of wit and wisdom about what truly matters in a life well lived. show less

This book was absolutely delightful--sweet and heartening with some gorgeous elements and vaguely reminiscent of The Celestine Prophecy.

There were three main premises going on. Firstly, people are able to give up the ability to sleep by taking one costly injection. Secondly, a stranger, possibly from another planet, has arrived. Thirdly, our main character has a gift. Also, there's a girl he has some sort of connection to. All of these premises individually would have hooked me, so I was a little overwhelmed in the first pages when I saw how much was going on.

I would have liked Espinosa to have delved deeper into each premise and to have explored each more as I thought they all were very important and extremely fascinating. As it was, show more there was one plot--one chain of events--and enough detail was given to explain the execution of these events.

I loved the idea of the narrator's gift. I won't delve into that so as not to spoil it, but the way he interacted with it and its concept was beautiful. At the heart of this book seemed to be ultimately the relationship between a parent and a child, and how the narrator's mother had had such a huge role over him.

Additionally, I loved the portrayal of childhood, sex, and death as being three human experiences and I loved seeing the narrator trying to paint them and capture them in a canvas.

Originally written in Spanish and set in Spain, this translation was strong and I loved the imagery of Spain and its plazas we received. Though I do wish we'd seen more of how people not sleeping was influencing the world, it was exciting to read the details that were included and to see how life was bustling about still.

This was very short and sweet but philosophical and worth reading.

I received a free copy of this book in exchange for an honest review. show less

Powerful, literarily stunning; Espinosa gives an experience that is wrought with wisdom and insight into humanity, desires and life. In what amounts to only a couple of hours, a story is told that is a lifetime long in depth & breadth. Espinosa has a gift of peeling back the insignificant swiftly and effectively, and getting directly to the soul of the matter.
A unique and insightful enterprise, with anecdotes and tales within the main story that add brilliance and depth, 'Everything You and I could Have Been if We Weren't You and I" transported me to another realm, and quite literally took my breath away. Bravo, a thousand times, bravo!

El pecado de este libro es lo que he bautizado como "buenismo mágico". Da igual si tu historia es una porquería, si tus personajes son planos y sin historia ni carácter. Da igual todo siempre que metas frases buenistas como " hay que educar en el sexo con valentía". absurdo y lamentable. La historia, en manos de un buen escritor, podría dar para un libro de cifi interesante. Hay una droga que arrasa en la sociedad y que permite eliminar la necesidad de dormir. Descubren a un extraterrestre. El prota tiene un don raruno. Da para historia. Pero no en manos de este autor, que hacia el final se saca de la chistera un argumento que convierte a Paulo Coelho en adalid del escepticismo. Perfectamente prescindible como novela y como libro show more de autoayuda. show less

Everything You and I Could Have Been If We Weren't You and I This book was absolutely delightful--sweet and heartening with some gorgeous elements and vaguely reminiscent of The Celestine Prophecy.
 
There were three main premises going on. Firstly, people are able to give up the ability to sleep by taking one costly injection. Secondly, a stranger, possibly from another planet, has arrived. Thirdly, our main character has a gift. Also, there's a girl he has some sort of connection to. All of these premises individually would have hooked me, so I was a little overwhelmed in the first pages when I saw how much was going on.
 
I would have liked Espinosa to have delved deeper into each premise and to have explored each more as I thought show more they all were very important and extremely fascinating. As it was, there was one plot--one chain of events--and enough detail was given to explain the execution of these events.
 
I loved the idea of the narrator's gift. I won't delve into that so as not to spoil it, but the way he interacted with it and its concept was beautiful. At the heart of this book seemed to be ultimately the relationship between a parent and a child, and how the narrator's mother had had such a huge role over him.
 
Additionally, I loved the portrayal of childhood, sex, and death as being three human experiences and I loved seeing the narrator trying to paint them and capture them in a canvas.
 
Originally written in Spanish and set in Spain, this translation was strong and I loved the imagery of Spain and its plazas we received. Though I do wish we'd seen more of how people not sleeping was influencing the world, it was exciting to read the details that were included and to see how life was bustling about still.
 
This was very short and sweet but philosophical and worth reading.
I received a free copy of this book in exchange for an honest review. show less

I received an ARC ebook from Netgalley in exchange of an honest review.

Excellent—4.50 out of 5 stars.

First of all, I love the title. The novel is full of twists and kept me wonder all the way to the end. The strange combination of setting and events is excellent.

But this is not for everyone, though, as the writing is a bit unfocused with many flashbacks that deviate from the main story. Still, I found the book fascinating.

Overall, great novel.

This was one of the strangest books that I have read, but oddly enough, I enjoyed it.

Thanks NetGalley!