This book is not a page turner. It’s a solid story about self-discovery and relationships and I like that kind of ordinary. It’s the ordinary stuff, in books and in life, that often intrigues me. However, this one had a bit of a rocky start for me and I wasn’t sure I would continue reading.
There was a time in my life when my heart was shattered and I wanted to lay down and stay down, so I related to Kate’s limitless couch time in the opening chapters of the book, but the day the dogs went unwalked and the cat went hungry made me stop and ask myself if I even liked Kate a little bit, or if I could like her if she showered and came to life again. I told myself that she is young and sometimes, at her age, we can have feelings that toggle frequently between extremes, so I read on. And then, the horrific interview with Henry took me even further down the lane of Maybe This Book Is Not For Me, but I kept going. Thankfully, when Kate is hired by Hudson, she immediately cleans up her act and I reveled in the next bit where she buys new clothes and researches the school. It’s like the fun part of a movie where the protagonist finally rises from difficult circumstances and a series of scenes without dialogue, accompanied by inspiring music, follows, showing the actions that lead to the comeback. I love those parts! I was also grateful that the author gave us a backstage pass to how Kate managed to get hired despite that disastrous interview, in a later chapter. That was important to me.
Angela is a little bit like my big sister. She doesn’t always understand how I feel and she does not condone any circumstance where I present a glass-half-empty attitude, but she will help in tangible ways, like filling a struggling sibling’s fridge with homemade meals or watching kids. Given the bohemian nature of their parents and the laissez-faire attitude they had toward their adult children, I get why Angela felt that she needed to care for Kate and make sure she was okay. It’s often what oldest siblings do, just like mine. Angela was the one that connected Kate with Henry and Hudson, which launched her off the couch and back into life, so she deserves some credit, I think. I’m not sure the author felt the same. Angela was painted a bit like a meddler, who had very little confidence in Kate to run her own life. To be fair, she was the one to run to the airport to pick Kate up when she melted down after Robert broke up with her AND she allowed Kate to stay on her own couch for awhile AND then she found a subletted place for Kate which ended up being in the same building with a guy that Kate ends up dating, so Angela is a bit of hero here, but is not presented as one. Maybe the author has older sister issues she’s working out in this book?
While friend Chloe seems like the steady one, whose narrative crops up in first person now and then, I didn’t love her. She was too guilty. Going on dates with men for the purpose of screening them as potential paramours for Kate made for humorous dialogue in the book, but was weird. Even weirder—when Kate ends up with one of those guys and Chloe buys her lingerie for a weekend away with him. I’m with Maureen on this—creepy. If this is what really good friends do, then I don’t have any. Thankfully.
I liked how Kate, Chloe and Vicki were all very different, but nobody cancelled anybody. Sometimes we want to cancel friends and family, and even pause and consider it, but you work it out, whether you have it out with them, or simply reframe what behaviors you can live with. I liked how we followed Kate and the other characters through how they perceived the break-up of Robert and Kate. At first we’re led to believe that Kate’s downfall is due to the dashing Robert ditching her. She’s a mess. But once she pulls out of it, she starts to talk sense and that’s what often happens to us when we get ourselves together and move forward. We see the past more clearly as it shrinks in the distance. Kate shares the reality of it with her sister, with her friends (and us), once she’s digested the real version of the story herself.
We don’t get a lot of Henry or Maureen, but they are likeable. The author is good at helping us to know their characters without too much explanation, through what they say and how they treat Kate.
One thing that struck me in this book was the author allowing Hudson’s administrators to talk about the applicants in a very non-politically correct way, making fun of physical features, like a large forehead or a child’s lack of intelligence. That is taboo these days, so it surprised me. The author has real life experience as a school admissions counselor, so it made me wonder if she was bringing that experience to life in her book. We all know that what goes on behind the scenes at every workplace can be very different from how it’s represented to the public. This is what I love about art, though. You can take chances. You can color outside of the lines and tell a real life story by telling a made up story.
Reader Reviews
Great Book
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