Book Review- Fizz: Nothing is as it seems

First Reviewed July of 2012
Fizz : by Zvi Schreiber

Fizz nothing is as it seems by Zvi Schreiber is the thoroughly enjoyable story of a young girl coming of age in a community that shuns technology blaming it for everything from war to global warming.

This is a great novel for anyone who loves physics and anyone who thinks they cant understand it. And maybe even a few who hate physics. It's also a great novel for anyone who loves historic novels. Though In both these cases I'm not sure I'm the best qualified to attest to the veracity of the content.

We pick up Fizz in her life when she is given a possible choice to leave her protective community and mingle with the evils of the outer world while making an informed decision about where to spend the rest of her life. Unlike some other communities that shun the modern world that have sprung up throughout the ages this one doesn't seem to have any firm roots in religious beliefs in a god and creator. It does have strong opinions about and against the study of science. Fizz finds herself questioning many things around her which she is expected to take at face value. So,though it is common for most who reach her age to take a pass on this option to strike out into the world, she is strongly considering it because of her inquisitive mind.

Add to this the notion that her father (who has already left the community before she was born) has spearheaded the construction of a time machine and you have the beginnings of an odd but engaging experiment.

This novel takes the reader and Fizz on a historic journey back through time to begin the study of physics on a quest to answer a few simple questions that Fizz is certain will be solved in one simple visit with one of the great minds of the past. As the story builds we not only get a glimpse of Fizz but we get a glimpse of what must be a universal principle that the more you know the more you need to know. We get to see Fizz grow and the reader perhaps begins to question the wisdom of a community that has stifled someone with such a brilliant intellect and thirst for knowledge. And somewhere in all of this she may begin to see the work of a creator.

J.L. Dobias
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