Bootstrap by Georgina Young

Jackson Sweeney is stuck in his small rural township heading nowhere. Life is aimless, and being gay in this town does not come without taunts and jeers. Jackson’s direction and spark for life changes though when he encounters the rather unusual stranger who goes by the name ‘Bootstrap’. Marnie lives in the city and her family has connections to the same small rural township. Her life is unsettled since her breakup from boyfriend Ben. She is snarky and troubled, lippy and similarly unsettled. Her life too is going nowhere, and having to visit the small rural community is just more evidence of the pointlessness of her life. And then time seems to work against them and reveals that it cannot be trusted. Time splits and time travel are part of Bootstrap’s life that he introduces to Sweeney, and Marnie’s encounter with another time fluid character adds an element of extreme mystery to the story and introduces the risks of time twists. What starts as an opportunity to escape the humdrum existence of small-town life morphs into a perilous journey through time.

Written with the snarky voice of each of the two main characters, and with the rough vernacular of Australian rural life (with foul language a given), this swings between an angst-riddled insight into life for the post-school aimless ones and a view into the romance stories of two characters who don’t quite fit. With the alcohol-fueled lifestyle of life for this age group and the slow infiltration of drugs into the rural setting, there are fights and moments of relationship anguish. The winner in this book though is the intriguing way time travel and time shifts are woven throughout the story. I did not love the characters or their personal way of dealing with life, but the story morphs from indolent torment into perilous pursuits through time and so this swing and uplift elevates the book from its angsty beginnings. It is gritty and sometimes unpleasant, and also quite clever, but only for those who can cope with the occasional dip into the gutter. For readers 18+.

Themes: Time travel, LGBTIQ, Small-town life, Science Fiction, Romance.

Carolyn Hull