I started this book in college 50 years ago and abandoned it 30
years ago. Two months ago the charcters came out of their coma and
took the story in a new direction.
novel - mainstream/fantasy/magic realism
Beyond the Fourth Door by Richard Seltzer
84,794 words
The first door is birth. The second is death.
Frank and Marge go through the fourth door.
Without knowing why or how, a pair of college
students go through the second door without dying, waking up 50 years older than they
were before and with no memory of what has happened.
Seeking a way out, they read a novel that Frank
wrote about them and his family before the missing years. It's a
coming-of-age family saga with
Charlie, an amateur movie maker;
Sarah his insightful bible-believing mother;
Irene, his creative and uninhibited wife;
Frank, his nephew, the author of the novel; and
Marge, who loves and hates both Frank and
Charlie.
Trying to sort truth from fiction, when
perception and action are often shaped by lies, Frank and Marge bond
with one another as they find ways to slip through cracks in time
and space.
Comparables --
Cloud Atlas by David Mitchell (soul migration)
Time and Again by Jack Finley (time travel in
an everyday setting)
Life After Life by Kate Atkinson (soul
migration)
The Fountain Overflows, The Real Night -
Rebecca West (magic sprinkled on everyday life)
The End of Days by Jenny Erpenbeck (alternate
lives)
The Alexandria Quartet by Laurence Durrell
(alternate perspectives)