The Mine follows the adventures of Joel, a twenty first century college student who treks into a mine in the year 2000, only to walk out of it in 1941.
I really enjoyed this book. The character of Joel was well written and easy to like. The story of his adaption to pre-Pearl Harbour America was enthralling. His friendships and relationships felt real, his character development was spot on and at times, the weight of knowledge that he was carrying almost brought me to tears.
Having said all that however, there were the occasional niggles with the text. The opening chapter is quite vague. There were points when I wasn't sure who was speaking and who the main character was. This improved dramatically after that point, but it was a struggle to get past the first chapter. Also there was no real sense of displacement or shock that the main character should have felt. After traipsing out into 1941, I would have anticipated a little more reaction than just 'well I should hop on a train and go back to my hometown'. I would have also expected more of an effort in attempting to return home.
The above points are just niggling and do not detract from the enjoyment this book has to offer. I firmly recommend this book and would definitely read more from this author.
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