(Reviewed by Don Jung)
If given the opportunity to go back in time to change the decisions you made in life, would you take it?
Growing up in foster homes and in an environment where crime is the only way to survive, our protagonist T.J. chooses the path of crime. He gets caught and while serving his time, he takes an interest in physics. He dreams of going to Cal Tech and becoming a physicist but first he has to reinvent himself to make it in the real world.
When he gets out, he works as a janitor at Cal Tech and meets a professor who has developed a method of time travel. T.J. wants to test it, and once in the past , finds himself in various situations where the ‘he and me’ see each other at the same time This leads to funny yet touching moments as he tries to find himself.
Time Travel for Love and Profit is not only a twist on the old tales of time travel, but also an imaginative story about a troubled young man who finds a way to change his life and discover love and how to make money. T.J. is told he can’t change history but he can go back to find romance and utilize the talent of time travel to his personal advantage. However making lots of money by knowing history’s various outcomes isn’t as easy as one may think. It’s also not that easy to leave your past completely behind.
There are great glimpses of 20th century America from the stock market of 1932 to the early days of the folk music movement in New York and the 1960’s segregation marches in the South as well as a detailed look at Cal Tech and the academic philosophy they imposed on students.
Novelist Jeff Abugov keeps you tuned in to the various time travels and provides
a wacky look at how one can enjoy some of the major events of our American history without changing any of them. This is a very enjoyable read and keeps you guessing on where it will turn in the end.
