23 Minutes by Vivian Vande Velde

23 Minutes by Vivian Vande Velde
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

** 2017-2018 Maryland Black-Eyed Susan Nominee **

Zoe Mahar is a blue-haired, 15 year-old who lives in a group home. She has the amazing gift to be able to transport herself exactly 23 minutes back in time. There are rules to such a gift though as well as pros and cons. Zoe can only go back 23 minutes. After the 23 minutes, the story is played out and she can not go back. Also, she can only do this 10 times so she has to plan carefully. Zoe calls her time relapses “playbacks” and to rewind a 23 minute chunk of time, Zoe wraps her arms around herself and says aloud ‘playback’ and she starts again. Zoe can bring back information with her through all of the playbacks, but the people she meets remember nothing of her or what’s happening. The story begins with Zoe’s 23 minute bank robbery story. Over and over as Zoe playbacks back the robbery scene, she learns more and more about the people with the help of one consistent person, Daniel. In every scenario, Zoe learns more about Daniel who recognizes the robber and ends up getting shot and through multiple playbacks, she is able to string together missing pieces that ultimately save lives.

23 Minutes by Vivian Vande Velde is an interesting take on Ground Hog Day whereas a young girl replays the same 23 minutes over-and-over again. It is definitely a refreshingly different topic and one that Vande Velde pulls off pretty well. I enjoyed that the first 23 minutes set up the basic scene: Zoe, rain, bank, robber, shooting, blood and brain matter. Yes, it was a little graphic, but it’s not overdrawn. With every set of 23 minutes the reader learns more and more about the characters and who they are and how they relate to the scene that is constantly unfolding. It is really quite clever. By the end the book, the final pieces are put into place. The one thing I didn’t like about 23 Minutes is the relationship between Zoe and Daniel. Zoe is 15 and Daniel 25 and there just seemed to be something between them besides an age gap. It’s like I was waiting for a romantic element to come into play, but that would have been a little weird. I think it would have been better to adjust the ages for the romantic element to play through or ditch that element altogether. 23 Minutes by Vivian Vande Velde is an interesting teen take on time travel!

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