Never Never

The concept and literary trope of soul mates entails the existence of fated partners, often romantic. Belief in soul mates demands a leap of faith, a leap into the world of the supernatural. The novel creates a universe in which coincidences and dreams deliver messages about love; it endorses the mysterious power of intuition. For example, Charlie senses a connection between her and the school “misfit” Cora. Charlie and Silas visit a tarot shop and feel both inspired and unnerved by the atmosphere, reinforced by the tarot reader herself—Janice, later revealed to be the former mistress of Charlie’s father, Brett, and Cora’s mother. These connections all tie into Charlie and Silas’s amnesia loops.

Given the novel’s endorsement of a world that transcends the material (symbolized by Brett and Charlie’s current fling, Brian), it is no surprise that it also endorses soul mates. As Silas’s housekeeper Ezra assures him, he and Charlie have loved each other since they could walk. For reasons that defy explanation, they complete each other. They share instincts and interests, and respect the integrity of each other’s identity. Charlie and Silas’s mutual pull despite their amnesia and youth makes their bond authentic. In fact, Charlie writes in a letter to Silas that “Adults like to pretend that our feelings aren’t as big and important as theirs—that we are too young to really know what we want […] But we want to find someone who believes in us, who will us feel less lonely” (285). In other words, theirs is a relationship grounded in both history and something akin to magic.

According to the novel, finding one’s soul mate is not an end in itself, no fairy tale. As Charlie and Silas ponder their amnesia loops on two separate occasions, they consider the possibility of being trapped in a fairy tale, cursed by a spell that can only be lifted by true love’s kiss. However, they kiss and nothing happens. While the novel deals with the supernatural, it also invests soul mates with real responsibilities. It is not enough to be in love, as love requires work. At some point in the past, Charlie and Silas began to take their love for granted, culminating in Charlie breaking up with her soul mate. In the aftermath of their fathers’ fallout, they forget to nurture and sustain their bond—forcing the universe to remind them why they fell in love in the first place. Overcoming the amnesia loops requires constant communication, investigation (of clues and social cues), and reflection (of themselves and each other), as is to be expected of any relationship.

The novel repeatedly uses the word “never” to reinforce the importance of Charlie and Silas’s vow—to never forget their love, to never neglect it. As a testament to this theme, the Epilogue takes place 20 years after Charlie and Silas overcome the amnesia loops. The couple have sustained a marriage and a family of three, as they have a daughter named Jessa. Love permeates their mundane routine of work and family dinners, making every day feel worthwhile. Having experienced the loops in their youth, Charlie and Silas recognize the work needed to sustain Jessa’s own relationship with her boyfriend, Harry—yet another reminder to never take love for granted.

From a technical perspective, the novel uses alternating chapters between Charlie and Silas to create a shared perspective. The couple’s story speaks to the power and resilience of love, reinforced by the inclusion of their two voices. Perhaps to be expected of a novel cowritten by two writers, these two voices capture the complex, intimate nature of romantic love. Charlie and Silas employ different diction and syntax, and share different experiences—as Charlie spends a portion of the novel in captivity. Neither one can tell their story alone. The alternating chapters recreate the experience of courtship, of two voices falling in love and working in unison.