Midway through this book I thought it would be a '3' on my arbitrary enjoyment-based rating scale. The justification being that I thought the writing about the parent-child relationships was good, but the "meta-science-fiction" wrapper was grating. But it had even more meta-science-fiction in the second half and less emotional punch, so we're at a '2'.
This book just annoyed me. I get it, we're using time travel as a metaphor, and playing with science fiction concepts as a means to talk about personhood and what we owe to our parents. It's just not that funny, clever, or insightful.
The "meta" elements are so often called out that it's impossible to become enveloped in the story, to live in the world that the book is creating, instead I'm looking at the world from a distance and I feel like I'm constantly being asked by the author do you see what I'm doing here, isn't it clever?
At least it was a very quick read!