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Laurel Brett
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The Schrödinger Girl: A Novel (Kaylie Jones) Kindle Edition

by Laurel Brett (Author) Format: Kindle Edition
4.5 4.5 out of 5 stars 61 ratings
See all formats and editions
Set in the 1960s, this novel exploring the mysteries of the multiverse—and of human identity—is “a rare page turner that avoids the obvious traps.” —The New York Times Book Review

Garrett Adams, an uptight behavioral psychology professor who refuses to embrace the 1960s, is in a slump. The dispirited rats in his latest experiment aren't yielding results, and his beloved Yankees are losing. As he sits at a New York City bar watching the Yanks strike out, he knows he needs a change. Then, at a bookstore, he meets a mysterious young woman, Daphne, who draws him into the turbulent and exciting world of Vietnam War protests and the music of Bob Dylan and the Beatles, and he starts to emerge from the numbness and grief over his father’s death in World War II.

But when Daphne evolves into four separate versions of herself, Garrett’s life becomes complicated as he devotes himself to answering the questions about character and destiny raised by her iterations—an obsession that threatens to upend his relationship with a beautiful art historian, destroy his teaching job, and dissolve a longtime friendship. The Daphnes seem to exist in separate realities that challenge the laws of physics and call into question everything Garrett thought he knew. Now he must decide what is vision, what is science, and what is delusion.

“[A] mind-bending experimental thriller.” —CrimeReads

“An immensely interesting concept . . . dig[s] deep into psychology, philosophy, physics, and, most importantly, politics as Daphne shakes Garrett out of his indifference toward the cultural turmoil of the late ’60s.” —Kirkus Reviews

“Brett's imaginative, amusing debut will appeal to fans of Nell Zink.” —Publishers Weekly

“This absorbing novel vividly mines the physics and psychology of reality, and the reader’s reward is a moving story of love and loss.” —Hilma Wolitzer, author of An Available Man
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  1. Print length
    333 pages
  2. Language
    English
  3. Sticky notes
    On Kindle Scribe
  4. Publisher
    Kaylie Jones Books
  5. Publication date
    January 7, 2020
  6. File size
    7294 KB
  7. Page Flip
    Enabled
  8. Word Wise
    Enabled
  9. Enhanced typesetting
    Enabled
  10. See all details
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Editorial Reviews

Review

"Brett’s imaginative, amusing debut will appeal to fans of Nell Zink."
― Publishers Weekly

"In this mind-bending experimental thriller, an uptight scientist being dragged kicking and screaming into the 1960s is as depressed as he is bored―at least, until he meets a mysterious woman he becomes obsessed with, who then splinters into four different versions of herself, each with their own take on the scientist’s intentions."
― CrimeReads, included in CrimeReads’ Most Anticipated Crime Books of 2020

"Brett, who has written a critical study of postmodern fiction, has hit upon an immensely interesting concept for her debut novel, one that allows her to dig deep into psychology, philosophy, physics, and, most importantly, politics as Daphne shakes Garrett out of his indifference toward the cultural turmoil of the late ’60s."
― Kirkus Reviews

"This absorbing novel vividly mines the physics and psychology of reality, and the reader’s reward is a moving story of love and loss."
― Hilma Wolitzer, author of An Available Man

"Brett’s novel is a rare page turner that avoids the obvious traps. . . . Why not let Garrett indulge a little? His pursuit is maddening, because it should be. But the more impossible his reality becomes, the greater the potential for, as the professor says, ‘transcendence."
― New York Times Book Review

About the Author

Laurel Brett, a refugee from the 1960s, was born in Manhattan in the middle of the last century. Her passionate interest in the arts and social justice led her to a PhD and a long career as a community college professor. She expanded her award-winning dissertation on Thomas Pynchon's work into a groundbreaking analysis, Disquiet on the Western Front: World War II and Postmodern Fiction, which was published by Cambridge Scholars. She lives in Port Jefferson, New York.

Product details

  • ASIN ‏ : ‎ B07S1GTPM8
  • Publisher ‏ : ‎ Kaylie Jones Books (January 7, 2020)
  • Publication date ‏ : ‎ January 7, 2020
  • Language ‏ : ‎ English
  • File size ‏ : ‎ 7294 KB
  • Text-to-Speech ‏ : ‎ Enabled
  • Screen Reader ‏ : ‎ Supported
  • Enhanced typesetting ‏ : ‎ Enabled
  • X-Ray ‏ : ‎ Not Enabled
  • Word Wise ‏ : ‎ Enabled
  • Sticky notes ‏ : ‎ On Kindle Scribe
  • Print length ‏ : ‎ 333 pages
  • Customer Reviews:
    4.5 4.5 out of 5 stars 61 ratings

About the author

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Laurel Brett

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Customer reviews

4.5 out of 5 stars
4.5 out of 5
61 global ratings

Top reviews from the United States

Emelie B
5.0 out of 5 stars The Schrodinger Girl by Laurel Brett
Reviewed in the United States on November 4, 2023
Verified Purchase
The Schrodinger Girl. I was so impressed with the historical research Laurel Brett did of life in the 60's, the leading musicians of the time, politicians and life events/relationships with the characters, and especially the four Daphnes. I loved the Behavioral Psychology with the college professor and the connections with Physics and quantum theory. Not an easy subject to write about! Brett did a fantastic job connecting all the different characters and they all felt like main characters to me with such detail to each of their lives. And Brett very expertly connected their human frailties in their relationships! I would love to hear about Brett's experiences writing the book! And oh my goodness, Brett's vocabulary was impressive! Thank you so much for a great entertaining reading experience!
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Riley
4.0 out of 5 stars Interesting
Reviewed in the United States on September 21, 2021
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This novel had an interesting plot. I thought the story was creative. However, I felt that there were many parts of the book that were not necessary, and the ending was a bit of a cliffhanger.
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pax
5.0 out of 5 stars Masterfully written
Reviewed in the United States on July 6, 2020
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How can we feel at once deeply attracted, but incredulous towards another person and still include them in our lives? It’s much easier to reject someone for not meeting the requisite of one’s emotionally acceptable metric. Laurel Brett brilliantly weaves a great canvas of human emotion with all its unanswered questions, betrayals and need for belonging, while allowing the characters of her novel to express their anxieties and discontent without the weight of excess prose. Her erudition of classical literature, music, quantum physics and the politics of the 1960s is electric, as much as it is a vehicle for the evolution of the novels ensemble of characters, but mainly it’s protagonist, Garrett Adams. The solutions to their relationships are psychologically and emotionally satisfying without being simplified. It’s an intriguing read.
3 people found this helpful
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carmen mapis
5.0 out of 5 stars A different love story
Reviewed in the United States on December 3, 2020
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The book takes you through a place and time when women needed to fit into certain box, the enigmatic laurel, also known as The Schrödinger Girl, challenges those paradigms in a constant journey out of the comfort zone for a perplexed professor, comfronted with new ideas and feelings. Nerdy, sweet, full of art and references to great thinkers, works and ideas deffinetly ahead of its time and place. Which, by the way, is not linear in the story, but that is for you to find out...
2 people found this helpful
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Sara Reader
5.0 out of 5 stars It’s fun and thoughtful
Reviewed in the United States on April 5, 2020
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A fun, for me, nostalgic read. Moves quickly and introduces younger readers to aspects of the lives of baby boomers who might be their parents or grandparents by touching on some of the excitement and challenges as well as memories of the late 60’s early 70’s. The front cover beautifully illustrates the mystery of its content. This is imagined and written by an author who recreates some of the psychological experiences, student and university life, and our national social/political conditions of that time.
2 people found this helpful
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Richard Porter
4.0 out of 5 stars intriguing conceit
Reviewed in the United States on March 7, 2022
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A gripping read that holds your attention through its many twists and turns. Well written mystery that continues past the ending
2 people found this helpful
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Consumer51
5.0 out of 5 stars Take this trip
Reviewed in the United States on January 21, 2020
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SG is a journey into the rapidly evolving world of the '60's is literally a "trip." This colorful novel uses time, place and history to create a personal story of a man's journey towards fulfillment through a mythical, scientific adventure using the experience of alternate versions of the one young woman. Is he sane or mad? That question will keep you up at night until it's satisfying conclusion. Brett's ability to write in first person "male" is quite impressive, as she appears to understand the way a man's mind works, especially when it comes to figuring out the mysteries of the more complicated psyches of the surrounding females.
6 people found this helpful
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Timothy Haugh
2.0 out of 5 stars Superficial
Reviewed in the United States on May 9, 2020
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I don’t remember now who encouraged me to read this, but I found the description intriguing: set in the late sixties, a psych professor goes to a bookstore at Columbus Circle. Bored with life and career, he picks up a book on Schrodinger and decides to let chance rule. He determines to invite the next person who picks up the same book to lunch. Turns out, the next person is a beautiful, precocious (of course) 16-old-girl named Daphne who, upon subsequent meetings, has apparently split into 4 different versions of herself, evolving from that fateful meeting. Even writing that brief description of the book’s beginning intrigues me again. Unfortunately, the bulk of the story doesn’t live up to expectations.

The main weakness is that everything about how the story develops is superficial. Managing four versions of Daphne with any kind of depth was always going to be a challenge but with the possible exception of Daphne #2 (artist’s muse), we learn almost nothing about her character(s) and why she becomes such varied people. She remains a cipher.

Even Garrett, our narrator, who becomes obsessed by the Daphnes is underdeveloped. Nothing more than a person to hang a plot on. As I read further into the story, I couldn’t understand why he just didn’t spend a day driving around, confronting the Daphnes, and seeing what was going on. Well, of course, it’s obvious: the novel would have ended in a handful of pages. This is a common failing in novels that rely heavily on curious plots—the characters don’t feel human because they are contorted to fit the needs of the plot. This is especially true of Garret’s friend, Jerry, and his girlfriend, Caroline. Their reactions to Garrett make no sense beyond driving the plot forward. Caroline, with her passive-aggressive approach to the issue of the Daphnes, is particularly irritating.

And, ultimately, Ms. Brett abandons the plot she has constructed by leaving us with no answers, real or constructed within the framework of her novel; instead, leaving everyone with vaguely pat endings. As I thought about it, I began to feel that this novel was just an excuse to toss out her knowledge of the sixties, sprinkling her chapters with pop psychology, pot and LSD, free love, Beatles and Dylan, quantum physics, and art history; again, in a haphazard manner that doesn’t seem to bring much enlightenment.

Maybe I’m disappointed because I had such high hopes for this, but I felt this was more some kind of vanity press publication than a serious attempt to write a convincing novel.
9 people found this helpful
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Top reviews from other countries

Amazon Customer
4.0 out of 5 stars Good premise.
Reviewed in Canada on August 31, 2022
Verified Purchase
Solidly written, which many indie novels are not, but it sets up a great finish, and then fails to follow through. Still a good read, significantly different from the usual to make it worthwhile.
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Helen Grimmett
5.0 out of 5 stars A beautifully written novel challenging our view of reality against a backdrop of sixties America.
Reviewed in the United Kingdom on October 29, 2020
Verified Purchase
The Schrodinger Girl is a beautifully written expose on life in the sixties see through the disillusioned eyes of the narrator, Garrett. His meeting with Daphne begins a journey of self-discovery. His journey jolts him out of his boring life and makes him question everything around him.

We get to visit the sixties America, from the music of the Beatles and other artists to the terrible political and social tragedies of the Vietnam war and the assassinations of Martin Luther King and the Kennedy brothers. How do you cope with such turmoil and unexplained hate? Well it was the sixties!

This book is easy to read even though it is touching on a variety of social, psychological and scientific theories. The book is educational as well as entertaining and Laurel brings the various threads of the story together with consummate art.

There is a magical element to the way everything evolves and yet dovetails into the final reality for Garrett. After all, how much do we know is real or imagined? A clever book and a good read. I thoroughly enjoyed it.
Customer image
Helen Grimmett
5.0 out of 5 stars A beautifully written novel challenging our view of reality against a backdrop of sixties America.
Reviewed in the United Kingdom on October 29, 2020
The Schrodinger Girl is a beautifully written expose on life in the sixties see through the disillusioned eyes of the narrator, Garrett. His meeting with Daphne begins a journey of self-discovery. His journey jolts him out of his boring life and makes him question everything around him.

We get to visit the sixties America, from the music of the Beatles and other artists to the terrible political and social tragedies of the Vietnam war and the assassinations of Martin Luther King and the Kennedy brothers. How do you cope with such turmoil and unexplained hate? Well it was the sixties!

This book is easy to read even though it is touching on a variety of social, psychological and scientific theories. The book is educational as well as entertaining and Laurel brings the various threads of the story together with consummate art.

There is a magical element to the way everything evolves and yet dovetails into the final reality for Garrett. After all, how much do we know is real or imagined? A clever book and a good read. I thoroughly enjoyed it.
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Kindle-Kunde
2.0 out of 5 stars Nightly disappointing
Reviewed in Germany on March 25, 2020
Verified Purchase
Brett find's the tone of 60s noir pefectly, gut unfortunately, that is the best one can say about this novel.intriguing idea, but leads nowhere, which is a little disappointing. Also, despite historical references, thus novel feels anachronistic.
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J and her boys
4.0 out of 5 stars Quirky premise and well written look at reality and personality
Reviewed in the United Kingdom on June 17, 2020
Verified Purchase
Interesting characters, well written and a quirky premise. I enjoyed this fun look at reality and personality. It was engaging watching Garrett change and grow and the mysteries of the Schrodinger girls. However, purely subjectively on my part, there was a little too much psychology detail and lyrics from songs I don’t know! I also would have preferred a more upbeat ending. My only truly negative comment is to with some of the interactions between Garrett and his friend and his love interest, occasionally I was confused and they refused utterly to even consider his evidence, sometimes they didn’t seem to even hear and respond when he spoke of it. Perhaps some people really would behave like that, or maybe it had to be that way for the plot.. anyway definitely worth reading.
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