Turning Forward

Turning Forward was exactly what I wanted this project to be and  was the perfect launch for something new. I’m a writer, father, studied philosophy and have written articles, books, and short stories. Every day thousands of books are created or published and only a small handful will gain traction. Turning Forward by Liz Aab is the perfect example of a hidden gem with less than eight reviews.

Turning Forward is a work of literary fiction best summarized as an imaginative and inquisitive fictional biography. Placed in an alternate timeline to our own the story follows Anne who one day walks into the Central Order (an omniscient company/government agency that handles everything and nothing) and asks an agent to “be written into a book.” To do this Anne gives the agent, our narrator, access to her memories so they can create our story.

Fashioning the story this way provides a playful and interesting structure that Liz takes full advantage of. Broken into three sections we follow Anne at three distinct times in her life that can be loosely categorized as: careless (which I think we normally capitulate as youth), Surety (which is probably better said to be that age in our twenties, or even thirties when we start to gain traction, but the world hasn’t necessarily struck back at us yet) and evolution (or that part of life where we face trials and tribulations and come out on the other side with a greater sense of wonder, and in many ways become childlike again.)

Throughout the story our  narrator commonly will break the fourth wall. Early on in the first section after Anne successfully skis down a mountain, the narrator talks about how if this had been his story to write on his own he would talk about how as a natural Anne and her ski instructor gracefully winded down the hill together before falling into each others arms at the bottom with love flowing between them, but he couldn’t because that was not what happened. This is just one of many instances of this which I appreciate as an author. Liz uses the fourth wall to explain and explore the pitfalls and challenges of writing and also highlights the differences between our fictional narrative and the reality we face.

This format doesn’t just let Liz explore writing, but to ask more direct questions about life lessons, then normally allowed. The exploration of how life is often a slow evolution of changes as opposed to a single event. The idea that struggles and problems are often not any fault of our own, however that does not divorce us from the need to address them. All of these and more are explored within the three sections.

If this review has piqued your interest in any way please check out the read now link below to find out more about Turning forward by Liz Aab.