Meet Me in the Fourth Dimension

by Rita Feinstein

Overview

It’s easy to believe in the apocalypse when you’re losing your religion.

NASA has assured everyone the passage of rogue planet Malachite will be safe, but Crosby's been getting other messages—from a fortune teller and Malachite truther message boards. And now she believes that Malachite will kill everyone who doesn’t ascend to the fourth dimension—a higher plane that transcends physicality.

She tries to prepare her friends and family to leave their bodies behind and raise their frequency by changing their diets, wearing the right crystals, and moving into her friend’s bunker before it’s too late. But no one is listening.

The more time she spends trying to talk her roommate and her quirky friends into her apocalypse plans, the more Crosby is forced to face the cracks in everything she believes to be true.

This novel in verse explores the danger and humanity of conspiracy in a post-truth world through empathy, friendship, and forgiveness.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781645678380
Publisher:	Page Street Publishing
Publication date:	03/19/2024
Pages:	320
Sales rank:	204,826
Product dimensions:	5.50(w) x 8.40(h) x 1.20(d)
Age Range:	14 - 17 Years

About the Author

Rita Feinstein is the author of the poetry chapbook Life on Dodge (Brain Mill Press, 2018) and the full poetry collection Everything is Real (Brain Mill Press, 2022). Her work has appeared in Willow Springs, Sugar House, Grist, and Permafrost, among other publications, and has been nominated for Best of the Net and Best New Poets. Currently, she lives in Washington, DC, and teaches creative writing workshops for kids and teens.

Editorial Reviews

11/20/2023

A forlorn college freshman becomes a doomsday conspiracy theorist in this heartrending verse novel by poet Feinstein (Everything Is Real, for adults). “Wicca-as-hell” teen Crosby is shattered when Shannon, her neighbor and best friend of 13 years, pulls away after their high school graduation, abandoning witchcraft and leaving Oregon to study science in Arizona. Crosby senses that this rift portends something even more terrible—a belief vindicated when, during her first semester at Oregon State University, she hears about the rogue dwarf planet Malachite. World governments and “mainstream media” claim that Malachite will pass harmlessly through Venus’s orbit, but thanks to an alleged NASA whistleblower on YouTube, Crosby knows that Malachite’s collision with Earth is “inevitable and unsurvivable.” A like-minded local psychic says those vibrating at a high enough frequency will ascend to another dimension on impact, sending Crosby on an increasingly desperate quest to save as many people as possible, starting with Shannon. Feinstein incisively reflects on friendship and change while illustrating misinformation’s allure and aftermath via first-person-present verse poems by turns snarky and soulful. Lyrical, immersive writing and realistically flawed, mostly white-cued characters enrich the tale’s bittersweet tone. Ages 14–up. Agent: Savannah Brooks, KT Literary. (Mar.)

Publishers Weekly

"Cue The Twilight Zone music: this novel in verse is offbeat and then some [...] Feinstein’s unusual, well-written, and richly imagined novel will be catnip to speculative apocalypse fans and to all those who enjoy something different."
—Booklist

"Themes of misinformation on social media, cultural appropriation, and critical thinking make this debut from poet Feinstein one to give older teens looking for a unique, relatable issue- and character-driven book."
—SLJ

"Heartrending [...] Feinstein incisively reflects on friendship and change while illustrating misinformation’s allure and aftermath via first-person-present verse poems by turns snarky and soulful."
—Publishers Weekly

"An ultimately hopeful swirl of prognostication, conspiracy theory, and angst."
—Kirkus Reviews


“A gripping, vivid story of dangerous conspiracy pitted against hopeful friendship that made me want to simultaneously devour and savor the book.”
—Jessica Kara, author of Don’t Ask If I’m Okay

From the Publisher

04/01/2024

Gr 10 Up—Best friends Crosby and Shannon experienced high school as wiccans, celebrating solstices and delving into astrology, tarot cards, and more. Crosby adheres to the teachings of hippie parents who practice homeopathic medicine, while Shannon's home life has been volatile. Dismayed by Shannon's departure for out-of-state school, Crosby holds on to the past while trying to adapt to college life with friends and teachers that challenge her beliefs. A dwarf planet heading towards Earth, an astronomical event that becomes the focus of conspiracy theories and doomsday cults and intensifies her obsession with apocalyptic omens. Crosby succumbs to fatalist fantasies and catastrophe rhetoric, getting further immersed in misinformation and survival-planning, hoping to escape the earthbound "third dimension" and enter the "fourth dimension" through occult practices. Having given up her possessions, Crosby joins a road trip and finds that her focus on the asteroid enables her to avoid dealing with the changes that occur as one transitions to adult life. Told in first-person free verse, this novel will resonate with readers trying to understand how they fit in the world. The story wraps up succinctly, although the ending is open to interpretation. There is mature language and content, including drinking and drug use. Most characters present as white; one supporting character is gay, and Crosby's intense feelings for Shannon may be platonic or romantic. VERDICT Themes of misinformation on social media, cultural appropriation, and critical thinking make this debut from poet Feinstein one to give older teens looking for a unique, relatable issue- and character-driven book.—Rebecca Jung

School Library Journal

2023-12-06
Eighteen-year-old Crosby, with her prematurely white hair, embraces her witchy side and struggles with loss and the possibly impending cataclysmic end of the world.

As the Oregon summer transitions into the first year of college, besties Crosby and Shannon drift apart. For financial reasons, Crosby has enrolled at “the state school with the least stupid mascot,” while Shannon shakes off the notion that they’re witches and heads to college in Tucson. Unanswered texts and Shannon’s happy photos on social media increase Crosby’s unease and loneliness, despite the efforts of her outgoing roommate, Teagan, to expand her social circle. News of dwarf planet Malachite, which is possibly on a collision course with Earth, sets a road trip in motion, bringing Teagan and her friends, Crosby, Shannon, and the potentially disastrous Malachite into one another’s orbits. Crosby is convinced that if she and her loved ones can learn to vibrate at a higher frequency, they will survive the impact and be reunited elsewhere. The lyrical descriptions and verse format are a good match for the novel’s lightly developed speculative fiction elements. Runes, tarot readings, and psychic advice from an enigmatic homeopath play with the notion of what is real; the sense of unreality is enhanced by the effects of the characters’ casual use of weed, shrooms, and alcohol. The cast is predominantly white; cultural appropriation is briefly raised and dismissed without interrogation.

An ultimately hopeful swirl of prognostication, conspiracy theory, and angst. (Verse fiction. 14-18)

Kirkus Reviews