Four chapters in and I’m not quite sold yet—but I’m getting there. Everyone who sees me reading this book says she absolutely loves it and what a beautiful and heartbreaking story it is. I want to believe that’s where we’re headed, but thus far, I’m watching an entirely codependent relationship develop and I worry for them both. At first it seemed a relationship of convenience for Lucy, who was just looking for the closest warm body that would have her. Ann accepted that role willingly and continues to enable this entirely self-destructive and woefully tragic path Lucy is on. I’m bracing for where this might be going.

But when I put my cynical self aside and remember how needy, clingy, and often aimless I was as an undergrad, it makes all the above okay. They each fill a void for the other, and it is completely real-life. This is one portrait of a friendship with its own particular DNA, so who am I to judge? Ann’s writing is very honest and intimate, and she puts her friendship on full display, warts and all, so I have to appreciate that. I’ll admit that I’m intrigued and they’re starting to grow on me. For now, I’m proceeding with cautious optimism.

I think reader Heather Kramm put it best in her response to my previous post, when she said, “I’m hoping the book will mature as they do.” I sense that is coming.

Please share your thoughts! Let know if I’m being too hard on these young twentysomethings. And remember our next assignment is Chapters 5 to 9 for next Monday.

—Casey

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