4 out of 4 stars
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If you could live life over again, how would you live it? To be specific, if you were given a wrist watch that could take you back to a specific period in your life, which period would you choose and why? Of course, no such wristwatch exists, but G.M.T Shulling, through the life of Anaya in The Watchmaker’s Doctor, invites readers to explore time travel to the past and the possibilities of a well planned life.
Anaya is a doctor in her late thirties who is depressed and overwhelmed by regrets of her past. She believes that a decision to drop out of high school led her further down a chaotic spiral, make bad choices along the way and eventually squandering her youth only before re-enrolling in college many years too late. One of her clients, Greg, who she confides in and who also happens to be a watchmaker gives her the gift of a second chance at life of which she choses to start over from her senior year of high school. She is grateful for the opportunity as she begins to see the positive changes in her life but soon, she learns that her choices not only affect her but those around her as well. She gets accepted to college but her best friend Kati, who had previously done so, doesn’t. Anaya makes a better romantic choice but Taylor finds herself leaving a relationship with a cheat. Anaya is saddened but she thinks to herself that if Kati’s fate changes in her new life then surely, she won’t die like in the old one. Yet, Kati dies. What is going on?
This is a book about life’s journey and the choices we make. Shulling does an excellent job of making the twists, the turns and the outcomes as real-life as possible. Time travel is a common theme in literature, and most plots tend to have predictable outcomes. But this story forces us to question if we would really want to start over. I read the book at first, relating very well to the protagonist but later found myself deep in question as to whether I really would want to change events in my life or how accurately things would turn out if I chose to. The Watchmaker’s Doctor is only the first part of the entire story and I am left thinking about the final outcome: will Anaya still end up in the same predicament? Will she learn that there is in fact, not best way to live life? Will she be grateful for this opportunity? We will only find out in the second part.
Although we can never have the opportunity of time travel, reading Anaya’s story can push us to make the best out of our present and plan well for the future.
I rate this book a 4 out of 4 star not only because of the well developed plot but the poetic language with a smooth flow and the absence of any grammatical errors. I would recommend teenagers read this book to get them thinking about the choices that they make everyday.
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The Watchmaker’s Doctor
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