REVIEW: THE THEORY OF OPPOSITES, BY ALLISON WINN SCOTCH

Willa Chandler-Golden grew up in a family headed by Richard Chandler, best-selling author of a book about the inevitabilities in life. How there is no choice, and that destiny rules.So when she finds herself stuck on a path that accepts this premise, she is stunned by two things that shake up her world: she loses her job in advertising over something she really could not change; and her husband Shawn decides to leave New York for the summer for a project in Palo Alto, and he doesn’t want her to go with him. In fact, he sets up a “contract” for their separation, dictating the rules of their lives.

Is she going to accept this? Or will she follow the advice of her best friend Vanessa, who persuades her to go to Seattle to work on a self-help book…and get this! A book about “resisting the inertia” and doing just the opposite of her father’s guide.

But is she really making a choice? Or is she just following someone else’s path? And when she “runs into” her ex-lover Theodore, is this, too, something she has “chosen”? What will happen to alter her view of life and choice?

We follow along with Willa on her journey toward a different kind of life, making choices that seemed impossible before–and just when it seems as though the old path is now available to her when Shawn comes home, she surprises herself by what comes next.

The Theory of Opposites was a quirky story that held my attention, even as the characters were frustrating as they stumbled along, imperfect souls that they were. 4.0 stars.