The Schrödinger Girl

Written by Laurel Brett

Narrated by Adam Barr

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.

At a Columbus Circle bookstore he meets a mysterious young woman, Daphne, who draws him into the turbulent and exciting world of Vietnam War protest politics and the music of Bob Dylan and the Beatles. He starts to emerge from the numbness and grief over his father’s death in World War II.

When Daphne evolves into four separate versions of herself, Garrett’s life becomes complicated as he devotes himself to answering questions about character and destiny raised by her iterations. His obsession threatens to upend his relationship with Caroline, a beautiful art historian, destroy his teaching job, and dissolve his friendship with his old pal Jerry.

The Daphnes seem to exist in separate realities that challenge the laws of physics and call into question everything Garrett thought he knew. He must decide what is vision, what is science, and what is delusion.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Everand Productions
• Release date: Jan 26, 2021
• ISBN: 9781094414454

Laurel Brett

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. The Schrödinger Girl is her debut novel.

Reviews for The Schrödinger Girl

[Jerry Weis · Rating: 2 out of 5 stars]

I gave up after three chapters. No hooks, bland prose, and cardboard characters. Maybe it gets better, but I’ll never know.

[dennis morgan · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

In the multiverse there is a world in which I finish this book. But not this one. And-the-narration-is-monotonously-monotone. But I did get a checklist of every 60s cliche know to man and hippie. Somebody tell me how it ends please.

[Kathryn Arnold · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

Such an interesting puzzle, Dr. Adam uncovers. Maybe they'll be a sequal.

[Tina Whobrey · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

This was so captivating, fun, and deep! It had me thinking about real life things, fantasy ideas, and was never straight forward (just the perfect blend of expected, unexpected, and suspended)
Thanks for sharing this with the world.

[rhonda · Rating: 2 out of 5 stars]

They kept me interested enough that I wanted to know the end but I found it very tedious

[debbaworks · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

Visionary or madman? That's the age-old question, when somebody perceives something nobody else can see. The protagonist, Garrett, is losing his friend, his lover, his job, because of his obsession with a phenomenon nobody else gets. Meanwhile, he's building a deep relationship with the object of his obsession. Whether or not she is real, whether or not "many worlds" exist, is explored in the story. It's not fast paced, but it is engaging.

[Cynthia Holvenstot · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

Great book I loved it I wish there was more like this.

[mitchelcohen · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

This is a great book, filled with hidden gems, thought twists. My only complaint is that the voice reading this is not New York enough, too sterile. Where is Fran Drescher or even Jerry Seinfeld when we really need them?

[Rhonda Morrison · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

Excellent story about a man involved in alternate reality ideas..also he grows up.

[Keyth Hinazuki · Rating: 2 out of 5 stars]

It's boring for me, and it doesn't have interesting feel to it.

[Lucia Garcia · Rating: 2 out of 5 stars]

I thought it would be more interesting than it was. To me, it ended up being a mid thirties man with emotional unresolved issues obsessed with a girl about the age of his long gone kid.
I think it could have been better, but it had me rolling my eyes the whole time. I only stayed on it because I wanted to know what was going to happen with these multiple Schroedinger girls.
Kinda creepy and not in a good way.

[Bill Romine · Rating: 2 out of 5 stars]

Needs a better ending. Don’t waste your time with this book.

[Chauncey Mabe · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

In the early going I thought is was a turgid mash-up of John Updike-style sex drama and a PK Dick navel-gazer on the slipperiness of identity. Yet somewhere in the middle it coalesces into something deeper and more compelling. The characters become more interesting and the story takes on the energy of a thriller, albeit a thriller of the heart and the intellect. “The Schroedinger Girl” is sc-fi with none of the familiar tropes: No rockets, no villains, no space babes or BEMS, no planet on the brink of annihilation. The lead characters aren’t in any particular jeopardy. Garrett Adams, considered delusional by his best buddy and his girlfriend, refuses to let go of his quest to prove the “many worlds theory,” what we call “the multiverse.” As he investigates the “Shroedinger Girls,” four identical high school girls he meets over the course of the novel, Adam’s obsession comes to rival Capt Ahab’s search for the white whale. The narrator weaves complex ideas and quotidian life experience into a top-notch literary achievement. It’s sophisticated sc-fi of character and ideas, highly recommended for those who like that sort of thing. Let me repeat: This wonderful novel has nothing of the genre about it, yet mature sci-fi fans might take pleasure in it as much as readers of imaginative literary fiction. Please, enjoy!

[Angie · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

Well, done! There were a couple points win an author who followed their format, would have flailed, but she nailed it! Did not follow the format, and that made the book… That in addition to the topic.
I want more books about meta physics, multiverse, psychedelics and let’s throw in a bit of spirituality!
This is a review for this book and not what I would like more of (lol) but perhaps the author will read this and keep on keeping on!

[sana.haroon710 · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

Beautiful storytelling with meaning and purpose. An unusual story that keeps you willingly suspending disbelieve till the end. And along with that the beauty of art literature science psychology and their relevance to your lives.

[Patricia Leah Lazar · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

I was completely engaged from beginning to end. Loved the way it was red and everything about it. I highly recommend it

[Bonnie Cramond · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

This is the best book I have read in a while. It was funny, sad, romantic, interesting, thought-provoking, and well-written.

[Karen Adams · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

Too depressing. It’s a good plot and good writing, but not any humor. I couldn’t finish.

[Steve Ross · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

Fair to midland. It was a complex book, but it really had no point. And it had a very Holly ending. Personally, I thought it was a yawner.

[Underwater Squash · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

A wonderful book, hard to put down once you get started. Beautifully captures the hope and heartbreak of the late 1960's, with fascinating characters (both young and approaching middle age) who live through this turbulent decade. The story's genre is a mixture of science fiction, romance and a coming of age story. The narrator of the audible version is perfect. Don't miss this one, especially if you have any memory of (or curiosity about) 1960's America.

[caytlain hewitt · Rating: 1 out of 5 stars]

I'm more, and more disappointed in modern authors who start out with a good idea for a book. And then run the ending straight into the ground. Bad enough that she ruined the main storyline by turning the entire book into an anti-war protest.

[Gigi Stefanov · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

A bit of a literary effort without being a breakthrough in any respects. Throwing in a captivating puzzle, yet diluting it constantly till the end of an unrewarding read.

[Chris Samwells · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

One of the best books I have read in many years. Beautifully and sympathetically narrated

[Susannah Stiles · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

Amazing how this parallels my own intellectual experience in many ways. Behaviorialism is a dry subject and extremely limited in its explanations of human experience. Unfortunately other tools are similarly lacking. The mystery is compelling and fulfilling though. I love the professor's ideas.

[Kevin · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

Great story that kept




me guessing until the end weaves physics psychology and the 1960s events into a great story

[Jarshark · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

The story was intriguing but did not develop enough for me.

[Heather Dennis Sommerer · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

Absolutely fascinating. Was hooked after the first chapter and couldn't put it down. The ending left me hanging with unanswered questions, but then the best books always do!

[TheCptfrag · Rating: 2 out of 5 stars]

The book was disappointing. The idea was good but it took what felt as third place in the actual writings. The author made a great effort to write in 60's events and it felt very artificial and forced. The ending had no real closure and the last chapter felt like any other. Don't waste your time.

[Terri Hanley · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

Get past the sexualization of a minor... gold lies beyond.

[GMunro · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

This book was like a psychologist from the 60s falling down the rabbit hole and landing in Jostein Gaarder's 'The Solitaire Mystery', set against the backdrop of the lyrics of 60s music reflecting cultural movements in the US.
Metaphysics, existentialism, & Quantum Physics pose the big questions of life, beautifully tied into a love story that seamlessly flows amongst the lightly posed, but deep philosophies of existence.
Despite what sounds like a heavy subject matter, the book is not weighed down by that. The story is intriguing and I listened in a day. (If I'd been reading the physical version, I wouldn't have put it down until I finished either.)