Review of “In Five Years” by Rebecca Serle

Fate triumphs over free will (this critique contains spoilers)

My wife read Rebecca Serle’s “In Five Years” on Kindle. Since we can share books on Kindle (meaning I could read it for free), and as I had just finished a serious book, and this is a short book, I thought I might take a break from serious reading. Moreover, “In Five Years” is a New York Times best seller, and I thought maybe I should know what kind of books make the list.

I expected chick lit or beach read material, and that’s what I got.

But I was also surprised to find that the plot is based on fate verses free will. Perhaps even more astonishing, it’s based on a nettlesome philosophical idea that postulates that future events dictate current events. To most people, including most philosophers, that’s gibberish. But, on a philosophical level, it’s exceedingly difficult to disprove.

David Foster Wallace, yeah, that David Foster Wallace, was somewhat fixated on this problem and wrote a novel seeking to disprove the theory.

Serle’s novel is not that ambitious. She treats the theory as reality, with her main character having a glimpse of her fate five years from now and then fighting Fate (unsuccessfully) all the way to the finish, where Fate hands her another curveball.

The novel is written in first person, and the writing is solid. Serle can keep the ball rolling, going through big time gaps with ease…