Being a lover of time travel novels I was immediately drawn to this book from the title alone.

We are introduced to a world in 2049 where NAS exists - The Northern American States. We find a cross between George Orwell's 1984 and The Handmaids Tale with a dystopian world nothing like our own.

Adriane is found to be a dissenter in this future world and her punishment is to be sent back to 1959 to get a good University education. I still cannot fathom the reasoning behind this. Why would 80 years in the past provide a better education? When none of the progressive things she knows of have been invented.

Once Adriane is back in 1959 I started to enjoy this book (to begin with anyway). The description of her encountering a manual typewriter and looking for a plug was wonderful, as was her trying to use a dial phone. From time to time we begin to wonder if this time travel has actually taken place or is it a constructed reality? I'm still not sure.

Adriane is called Mary Ellen in 1959 America and takes Psychology 101. Whilst some of this was interesting, at times the book descends into such detail I felt like I was taking this course myself. Far too intense to be enjoyable for me.

There are certainly some thought provoking parts to this book. The politics of 1959 America and the world are beginning to run true again today. It wasn't really a book for me. It's a dystopian world with time travel bolted on and a coming of age love story in between psychology lectures.

I've looked back at my other reviews of Oates' books and I seem to be a glutton for punishment. I always want to read them, until I'm reading them, and only giving 2 or 2.5 stars. This has happened again here. The cause? I have no idea - it's nothing I can really put my finger on. In the case of this book, I found the start a bit convoluted and overwrought, the middle was weird and by the end, I didn't really care. Thank you for approving this title for me.

This was an enjoyable read and I would recommend it. thanks for letting me have an advance copy. I'm new to this author.

There have been a raft of dystopian novels lately, particularly centered on women and Joyce Carol Oates joins the fray with this, her 46th novel.

Here she tells the story of Adriane Strohl, a 17-year-old living in a dystopian America in 2039. After her incendiary graduation speech, she is sent back to re-education in the year 1959.
This is another exploration of the American psyche but on a wider scale than Oates usually explores, Hazards of Time Travel skilfully explores the pressures on women both in the future and in the past and asks if anything has really changed?

Although this book has received mixed reviews, I thoroughly enjoyed it.
The main character was very easy to connect to, well developed and realistic.

The premise was what originally drew me to the book but it was the actual plot that kept me hooked until the last page.
The author took the storyline in a completely different direction than I originally thought would happen.
I found the writing style jarring to being with but I quickly grew to the no-nonsense style. It was stark, blunt and straight to the point, with no over telling and just enough given away but never too much. this left some point somewhat vague and open to interpretation, I realise this is not everyone's personal favourite writing style but I loved it.

This is such an interesting novel... I've had to think long and hard about where to even begin with a review. In HAZARDS OF TIME TRAVEL, Joyce Carol Oates has taken popular genre tropes: a young adult against authority; time travel; an oppressive, dystopian regime, where free thought is not-so-much discouraged as actively banned; these are combined with the Cold War period of American history, as well as some autobiographical elements (I believe, being new to JCO), all of which creates a fascinating and original adult novel. As a reader and writer of speculative fiction, I found the amount of exposition at first rather heavy-handed - but once the plot gets going and Adriane is immersed in the past, as a reader I became more immersed in the story.

They say the best science fiction tells us something about our own world, and certainly the controlling, totalitarian society depicted, with extensive surveillance, oversight and punishment, contains echoes and warnings of the Trump era we're living through.

I'll definitely pick up more of Joyce Carol Oates' work; I understand her novels vary greatly, and I'm looking forwarding to reading more. Thanks to the publisher and Netgalley for the ARC.

Joyce Carol Oates’ Hazards of Time Travel is a brilliant dystopian gem. In the not-too-distant future High School valedictorian Adriane Strohl is arrested for the speech she intends to give at graduation – a speech that dares to ask questions. The future she lives in is one where unquestioning belief in authority is demanded, where your family and friends may inform on you for any slight digression, where you must not be too intelligent, and one in which you are always being monitored. Adriane is punished by being sent back in time 80 years to 1959 to a mid-west university town of Wainscotia. She is sentenced to exile for four years and must follow a strict set of instructions that require her never to reveal herself to others and to stay within ten miles of her university accommodation. She suffers crippling loneliness and fear until she recognises a fellow exile.

Adriane’s fear and desperation as she navigates this unfamiliar world are heartbreaking. The understandable paranoia and the sense of unreality are quite chilling. Is anybody who they seem? Can Adriane ever know what’s truly going on? The book is an excellent read but takes you on a harrowing journey.

This was my first foray into the extensive Joyce Carol Oates catalogue and I found it fascinating and really enjoyable. It tells the story of Adrienne, a teenager who is made valedictorian of her high school only to discover that she is to be punished for her traitorous speech by being transferred to Zone 9 - a college in Wisconsin in 1959. Firstly, Oates has a really well honed sense of place, which made both the near future world that Adrienne inhabits completely believable and authentic, while also painting late 50's America with accuracy and without nostalgia. The narrative is very well paced and the writing is clean and concise. Oates doesn't waste any time in moving the plot forward and there is no unnecessary description leading to a fast paced and sometimes relentless feeling. My one criticism is that the characters seemed a little one dimensional, but this is very much a book driven by the ideas it discusses and not necessarily by the characters and their inner lives. All in all, I was very impressed by this book and would recommend it to anyone with an interest in near future dystopian fiction, such as The Handmaid's Tale.
I received a free copy of this book from NetGalley in exchange for a fair and honest review.

When I read the synopsis of the book, I was immediately hooked and I requested it without a second thought. I mean, just read it, doesn’t it sound absolutely interesting? And after reading it, I admit that to a certain extent, the promised adventure and excitement was given but I was also left feeling a bit ‘meh’ about it all and only the ending made me feel like this book was maybe worth it.

Let’s talk about the author’s writing style for a moment, for something that sounds like the quintessential YA dystopian novel, this book manages to stay loyal and yet move beyond that at times and that is one of the reasons I finished it. Seriously, the writing is good, the pace pretty excellent and the overall concept (as with many other dystopian novels) very interesting. However what let me down in this case was the lack of character development as well as the world building. If either of those had been strong, the book could have had 3.75 or even four stars.

Adrienne as the lead character failed to make me invested in her although I do admit that her bewilderment at the different era and how in the past, people and technology was different amused me. She’s not a bad person, just naive? She doesn’t really understand what her thoughts are or what direction they may take and how they could affect her and others around her. She also doesn’t seem to have any strong opinions of her own, or rather if she had them, I didn’t see them in the book, it was a bit bizarre, that. As I said before, the lack of character development and her not being strong enough a force to drive the plot forward convincingly made all the difference in me rating this book.

The romance was lackluster at best and suffered what almost all YA dystopian romances suffer. I sometimes wondered if it was on purpose, the whole rather underwhelming romance but I was never sure enough to forward with that thought. If it was on purpose then this fact makes the novel a bit more interesting.

There’s also the problem of secondary characters not being fleshed out properly, they simply weren’t developed and I felt so let down by that. Then there was also the format of the book itself, the way it’s written, it’s almost like someone is recording the happenings and not living them. It lacked that feeling of being in the middle of action, of plot.

Overall, a very underwhelming read for me, not a bad book but not the book I was hoping to read in any case. Oh, well. You win some, you lose some. From what I have read on Goodreads, this is not the author’s best work so I am not giving up on the author just yet.

I sadly don't really have much to say about this book, because it really wasn't for me. I felt like it wanted to be a lot of things, and I tried thinking of who to recommend this book to, but it never really succeeded in being anything.

This story about the protagonist Ariadne, who lives in a dystopian version of our current time, started out interesting and intriguing, but I quickly lost interest when she was exiled into the past. There I didn't know if I was reading a non-fiction book about psychology, a romance or a historical novel. It didn't really seem YA to me, even though the main character is quite young, and I also wouldn't see the appeal for more mature readers. To me the story was mostly boring and I had to skip a lot to even finish it. The ending showed some intention again, I thought it was definitely interesting, but also a bit confusing.

I would still recommend checking this story out to people who are interested in psychology and are maybe fans of the authors other work. If you're looking for a book about time travel and dystopia, this isn't really it.

Adriane Stohl is arrested at the rehearsal for her graduation ceremony, for delivering a subversive speech. Her punishment is to be an 'Exile' - teletransported back in time to 1950s Wisconsin, and given a new identity.

With everything she learns in her new life, Adriane has to question which is the real life, what defines the past and the future, and who really is she?

Fascinating, thrilling and populated with intriguing characters, 'Hazards of Time Travel' is highly enjoyable, and a compelling read.

Not at all good

If you or I had written this book it would never have been published. Ms Oates, writing outside her usual territory, wanders into the mist, doing not much more than retelling her 1950s college years without actually writing a story.

Although similar genre (dystopian) and not really similar plots, I felt like this book was aiming to get to the place The Handmaid's Tale stood. But for me it fails. There is neither the tension nor the atmosphere of the dystopian creation, and sadly I really struggled to finish this book. The writing is good but I think Oates's writing is not my cup of tea.
A Note: This book is definitely not a Young Adult title. Some readers seem to classify it as YA and I have no idea why, but it is not.

This book was brilliant in many aspects, but not perfect for some reasons.
I really enjoyed it. Oates wanted to make a remark of the direction the world is taking without giving names. We're in a dystopian futuristic world after 9/11. Trump's name is not mentioned, but refers to him. It's a totalitarian regime, and there's no freedom of speech. Everything is watched by government, very strictly.
Our main character is Adriane. Because she said things she shouldn't have, she's sent to exile, back in time to 1959 to another town. There's no internet, no mobiles, etc. Then, she falls in love with one of her instructors there.
Some people call it a YA novel because of the age of the main character. In my opinion, this is definitely not a YA novel. On the contrary, I believe Oates teases those cliches of YA with her exaggerations. I thought this was really cool too.
It's written to provoke some thoughts about many things. Are we really free to speak? Technology getting hold of everything in our lives. And many more.
I liked all these aspects of the book. There are 2 things that would make this book better: If Adriane was a stronger character. I found her naive, weak to carry the assignment give to her character. Second, the plot was not too exciting. It didn't move me much.
All in all, I enjoyed Oates' writing genius, her ideas behind the book, hidden details. Would recommend. Her fans will like it.

A YA dystopian novel, where our heroine is transported back in time to the 1950s as punishment for free speech? Yes please. The synopsis for this sounded right up my street, and for the most part I wasn’t disappointed.

The interesting storyline is supported with a well written plot that is reasonably well paced. We move quickly from the dystopian future to the past, as our protagonist Adriane must learn to adjust to her new surroundings while musing on the weird things that our ancestors had. I found it interesting to compare a future where free speech is oppressed with the 1950s of our past, where women didn’t necessarily have the freedom we have now. Almost a case of history repeating itself. Thought provoking indeed.

I found Adriane quite endearing, if naive. She’s willing to say what she wants about her oppressive society, but I don’t think she fully understands the consequences until it’s too late. Her utter bewilderment in the past is quite funny as first, as she struggles to adjust, and I did warm to her personality. I just don’t think she was strong or engaging enough to carry the story. There’s also not much in the way of character development. and the romantic elements are extremely underwhelming. The secondary characters were all a little bland too, and I cared very little for them.

At times I found the writing to be almost satirical, although it did come across as very juvenile. I want to believe this was done in a clever way, almost as though it was comparing itself to other popular dystopian YA novels and wasn’t taking itself too seriously.

World building is also a little lacking, and not that well developed compared to other YA novels I’ve read. In a heavily saturated market, things like that really stand out, and I feel it could have perhaps made a bigger statement if more time had been spent describing the future dystopian world in particular.

An interesting novel with some strong political notes, but lacking in character development and world building for me.

Couldn't help but get the feeling this was written with the Trump administration in mind. There was a lot to like about the novel, particularly the time travel aspects of the story. I did feel, however, it feel a bit short of Oates' usual standard.

This was an ARC in exchange for a honest review. With thanks to Netgalley and Harpercollins.

Joyce Carol Oates writes a fascinating multilayered, and complex dystopian novel that raises the spectre of totalitarian, controlling and heavy surveillance societies such as that of Big Brother in Orwell's 1984 and the in vogue Margaret Atwood's The Handmaid's Tale with Trump as the US president. In a world where dissent is not tolerated, where obedience and conformity is expected and people disappear, 17 year old protagonist, Adriane Stohl, is already a person of interest, thanks to her father, when she commits to writing a speech that challenges and questions the current societal norms. The speech is not delivered, but Adriane finds herself in hot water and having to pay a heavy price. She is punished by being sent back in time ' teletransported' to North America, Wainscotia, Wisconsin, to be reschooled in 1959. Adriane treads gingerly, understandably cautious about the nature of the world she finds herself in.

Oates vibrantly brings alive this period of time, with its hair rollers, manual typewriters etc., all of which proves to be a revelation to Adriane. Love is to beckon in the form of a fellow exile as indeed does rebellion. These turn out to be turbulent times as questioning of society and challenging the status quo is everywhere. This is a time of the Civil Rights movement, women's rights, anti-war protests and more. Oates provides the opportunity to deduce parallels and connections to the madness in our contemporary world and the state of US politics, the nature of history and questions of what reality might be. Some people might find this a heavy handed read, but I found it thought provoking, if depressing, in its echoes of real life politics and divisions in our society. Many thanks to HarperCollins 4th Estate for an ARC.

The novel starts with an inscription from B. F. Skinner's Science and Human Behavior: "A self is simply a device for representing a functionally unified system of responses." This constitutes the central theme of Oates' story; the references to experiments that explore the area of ​​free will versus the response to stimuli and the parallelism between these experiments and the way in which the authoritarian state monitors and affects its people is the main question of Oates' dystopian novel.

Most of the story is taken up by Adriane's experience in exile, whilst her character is in line with the model of the protagonist in young adult literature; a feisty heroine seeking to claim herself and her own identity through going against the oppressive rules, yet transforms into a weak person when in front of the man she has fallen in love with.

Odd/strange read. It could be as I’m not from America. I did struggle to understand this one. Thank you to both NetGalley and Harper Collins uk for my ARC on this book in exchange for my honest unbiased review

Although the novel opens in a (near) dystopian future, the book is not your typical straightforward dystopian tale. The story of a rebellious teenager, sent back to the late 1950ies as punishment explores big ideas: identity, the psychology of self, social contructivism but above all else it's a book about the question whether we can change the world.