This book was, ultimately, a bit uneven and as such alternatingly held and lost my interest. The premise is great–it’s not a romance novel, it’s a romance wrapped in a larger story about a woman who has constantly put the feelings of others first and is learning to prioritize herself. It’s beautifully written and evocative and makes you feel. But as it were, I found myself growing less invested in the story of Eva and Shane as the book went on, which is…not what you want to have happen in the titular relationship.
On the positive side, the dialogue and observations in this novel were just razor sharp. I highlighted 19 separate passages and could have probably highlighted twice as many. Just:
Look at Mariah. She can’t walk across a stage without assistance from sixteen Puerto Rican male dancers. But she’s the voice of a generation.
or
Audre was having second thoughts about her private school anyway. It just wasn’t real. She was secretly dying to go to public school, to experience true oppression.
Williams has a real knack for skewering a particular type of liberal subculture, even when she’s making an observation that’s been made many times before (“F-train books”: the hardcovers grown-ups toted on the subway to flex that they were reading An Important and Culturally Relevant Book). She also writes Eva and Shane’s reunion banter so, so well–you can sense the frisson and desire between two people who haven’t seen each other in eons but have never forgotten one another. The main characters in their bestselling novels? Modeled on each other. When they come together you can sense how much can change in seven days.
But…it’s a lot to ask of an adult reader to place on a pedestal seven days from the past, when both of our main characters were…17? 18? I mean, okay, but also, okay?? The historical reveals, when they come, lack the punch to support the gravity of what the reunion means for Eva and Shane. I expected that I’d get more and more into the main characters as time went on but I found myself less invested in their story as we understood what actually happened.
That being said, I would have read an entire novel about Eva and her hilarious ridiculous daughter Audre.
Last note: while I understand the literary merit of Eva’s disability (chronic migraines) as someone who works in the healthcare industry I find it distracting that Eva hasn’t checked in with a doctor in years for them! There are a lot of new drugs that work really well, with novel mechanisms! Just because nothing worked for you back in 2004 doesn’t mean nothing will work for you today!