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This novel is about Addie and Val, who were best friends since something happened that drove them apart in their senior year of high school. Fifteen years later, Addie hears a knock on the door late at night and - surprise - it's her long-lost friend Val who ran someone over and doesn't know what to do. From there, the story evolves into a strange conglomeration of road trip and crime story. Think Thelma and Louise, only really bad. Chick lit is usually known for not being too meaningful or deep, but this was just so dull and predictable. First of all, I don't understand why Addie wouldn't call the police. If my ex best friend who I haven't heard from for years came up to my door because she willingly caused an accident, I would not get into the car with her and try to solve things myself. The two female characters are such clichés - Addie's life is just tragic upon tragic; she was bullied in school for being on the bigger side, both her parents died shortly after she graduated and her brother is mentally handicapped due to a car accident as a teenager. She lives alone in her parents' house and earns her money painting greeting cards. Every date she has is a disaster. Then we have Val, her former best friend, who is tall and beautiful and successful and has "found a measure of fame and fortune as the local weathergirl" (quote from the back of my copy). Of course, she's totally sexy and every guy wants her. As readers, we are bound to hate Val and that's one thing I really didn't like about this book: the sexist representation of girl-hate. There's one quote in particular that sums up the problems I had with this book: "In high school the things I was (smart, neat, polite, artistic) mattered far less than the things Valerie was (blond, cheerleader)." (p. 232) Ugh. As for the writing, there are multiple perspectives. The main part is written from Addie's point of view as a first-person narrator, but there are also chapters that follow Jordan, the police officer who investigates the accident Val caused. The chapters switch from present to past tense, which I'm not a big fan of. For the most part, I didn't really care for the present timeline, I just wanted to know what drove the two friends apart in the past. I was very tempted to skip some chapters. The last thing I want to rant about is the ending because it was the stupidest thing I've ever read: Right at the beginning of the book, Addie discovers a lump at her hip and, since her mother died of breast cancer, she fears it might be a tumor. Legit, I'm not complaining about that. Then, at the end she goes to her doctor to have it checked out and, you guessed it, it's not a tumor, but she's four months pregnant. W.T.F. She had a sexual relationship with this (married!) guy, but didn't feel the need to use protection because she didn't think something could happen. WHAT?! I'm gonna get rid of this book asap.
Description
Book Information
Posts
This novel is about Addie and Val, who were best friends since something happened that drove them apart in their senior year of high school. Fifteen years later, Addie hears a knock on the door late at night and - surprise - it's her long-lost friend Val who ran someone over and doesn't know what to do. From there, the story evolves into a strange conglomeration of road trip and crime story. Think Thelma and Louise, only really bad. Chick lit is usually known for not being too meaningful or deep, but this was just so dull and predictable. First of all, I don't understand why Addie wouldn't call the police. If my ex best friend who I haven't heard from for years came up to my door because she willingly caused an accident, I would not get into the car with her and try to solve things myself. The two female characters are such clichés - Addie's life is just tragic upon tragic; she was bullied in school for being on the bigger side, both her parents died shortly after she graduated and her brother is mentally handicapped due to a car accident as a teenager. She lives alone in her parents' house and earns her money painting greeting cards. Every date she has is a disaster. Then we have Val, her former best friend, who is tall and beautiful and successful and has "found a measure of fame and fortune as the local weathergirl" (quote from the back of my copy). Of course, she's totally sexy and every guy wants her. As readers, we are bound to hate Val and that's one thing I really didn't like about this book: the sexist representation of girl-hate. There's one quote in particular that sums up the problems I had with this book: "In high school the things I was (smart, neat, polite, artistic) mattered far less than the things Valerie was (blond, cheerleader)." (p. 232) Ugh. As for the writing, there are multiple perspectives. The main part is written from Addie's point of view as a first-person narrator, but there are also chapters that follow Jordan, the police officer who investigates the accident Val caused. The chapters switch from present to past tense, which I'm not a big fan of. For the most part, I didn't really care for the present timeline, I just wanted to know what drove the two friends apart in the past. I was very tempted to skip some chapters. The last thing I want to rant about is the ending because it was the stupidest thing I've ever read: Right at the beginning of the book, Addie discovers a lump at her hip and, since her mother died of breast cancer, she fears it might be a tumor. Legit, I'm not complaining about that. Then, at the end she goes to her doctor to have it checked out and, you guessed it, it's not a tumor, but she's four months pregnant. W.T.F. She had a sexual relationship with this (married!) guy, but didn't feel the need to use protection because she didn't think something could happen. WHAT?! I'm gonna get rid of this book asap.