Lark Benobi's Reviews > You Again

Immergut's novel is a deeply meditative journey, on the nature of self, the obligations of motherhood, the effect of trauma on identity, and the nature of consciousness. I read it in a day, and I felt exhilarated at the end--a combination of "what did I just read?" and "wow."

The novel is full of strangeness and unexplained connections, but it's grounded in humanity. The central character is trying to understand herself, and to lead a good life, but what she's learning along the way is how little control she has over anything. It's a challenging book in some ways because the protagonist is never quite sure, herself, of what's going on, as she suffers from memory loss. The novel requires the reader to move forward through the story with more incomplete information than is typical when reading a novel. There is a bit of haze at the edges of each scene, where you can't quite be sure what to believe or what's going on. It reminded me of another novel I adored, Fever Dream by Samanta Schweblin for the way the novel requires you to yield to what can almost be defined as a lack of coherence, and to allow yourself to feel as lost as the protagonist. It also reminded me of Golden State by Ben Winters and I think readers who were okay with the ambiguities and strangeness of that novel will also enjoy You Again.

This is a book that I'm likely to re-read very soon, just to understand how it's constructed and why it had such a strong effect on me.