Finn and Ezra’s Bar Mitzvah Time Loop

A little while ago I was presented with some feedback on a manuscript – the two points of view were too similar. It was suggested that I sit down and and work through how each character thinks and ensure that was reflected in the pages. Not so much their turns of phrase or character traits, but what actually makes their brains tick. I wasn’t entirely certain how to go about that so I took a break to refill the creative well. As is often the case, the break turned out to be the solution. Because I picked up my copy of Finn and Ezra’s Bar Mitzvah Time Loop by Joshua S. Levy and in this MG sci fi about two bar mitzvah boys, I found exactly the lesson I needed to fix my female only, adult, romcom. Because good writing is good writing, no matter the genre.

The book features two boys – Finn and Ezra – who are stuck in a time loop, doomed to repeat their bar mitzvah weekends forever. These two boys live in completely different worlds. Finn is an only child with doting parents, attends public school, and appears to practice reform Judaism. Ezra, on the other hand, has a house full of siblings competing for his parents attention, attends an all boys yeshiva, and is ultra orthodox. These differences, however, are NOT what most sets them apart. When I opened a chapter I could immediately tell whose head I was in, even without a label, because of the different way these boys move through the world. Finn is scientific, his mind whirring a million miles a minute, even if it leaves him a little callous to the feelings of those around him. He has tried every angle and every experience possible to try and break out of the loop. Ezra is more laid back, worried about his family but not so much his mishna, and just goes with the flow. He wants out of the loop, but it never occurs to him to try and break out. He doesn’t even try and use his knowledge of the weekend to get a better grade on the mishna test he has taken five hundred times. He just keeps circling “C”. Yet he still cares about what happens to the people in his lopp – even if they will forget it all the next day.

The combination of these two personalities is hilarity in itself. Obviously, they each have something to learn from the other, and things to learn about their own lives that only become apparent as they provide fresh eyes towards each others loops, but the ways in which they try to break out of the loop are so creative I had to laugh. The side characters are well utilized and the bank robbing sequence – yes you read that correctly, bank robbing is a thing here – is genius. Even the small throw away lines were guaranteed to make the reader smile. I got some pretty serious side eye for the way I laughed out loud when the boys approach Ezra’s Rabbi for help with a scheme and he suggested the boys seek the greatest reward – learning Torah! It was just so exactly what many youth Rabbi’s would say, really spot-on.

Like any time loop book, the trickiest part is the introduction of the loop itself. I was a bit disoriented at first but eventually caught on. So the reader should just plow through the first few pages and settle in. I had no issue fully integrating into both characters worlds but I will say I’m better equipped than the average reader to understand the goings on in Ezra’s synagogue and family so I can’t comment on how a complete stranger to many Jewish rituals and customs would find those aspects of the story. I enjoy when a story is not written for an outside gaze and this one trusted the reader enough to provide a fully immersive experience without overdoing the explanations.

I’m a huge fan of Jews from different religious backgrounds working together. I loved seeing this partnership in the book and how both of the boys observance is reflected on the page, but most of all I enjoyed seeing the world through Finn and Ezra’s eyes. Because even though they are both thirteen year old boys trapped in the exact same weekend, their takes on the situation were so vastly different. It is that fullness of character development through viewpoint details and actions that I hope to achieve when I turn back to my own work.

I received an e-arc of this book from the author

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