Firstly, I read a book that wasn't in my memoirs/biographies list. The first step is admitting, right? ;) I chose to read something else because:
1. I had seen this movie and found out it was a book first. Of course I had to read.
2. I needed to step back from all the life advice, just for a minute. Life's been too real lately anyway, and a break/summer read was exactly what I needed.
"Love, Rosie" is also known as "Rosie Dunne" and "Where Rainbow's End". I don't know why there's three titles. I'll let someone else figure that out later. Okay, let's get on with it:
From Goodreads.com: "From the bestselling author of PS, I Love You comes a delightfully enchanting novel about what happens when two people who are meant to be together just can't seem to get it right.
Rosie and Alex are destined for one another, and everyone seems to know it but them. Best friends since childhood, their relationship gets closer by the day, until Alex gets the news that his family is leaving Dublin and moving to Boston. At 17, Rosie and Alex have just started to see each other in a more romantic light. Devastated, the two make plans for Rosie to apply to colleges in the U.S.
She gets into Boston University, Alex gets into Harvard, and everything is falling into place, when on the eve of her departure, Rosie gets news that will change their lives forever: She's pregnant by a boy she'd gone out with while on the rebound from Alex.
Her dreams for college, Alex, and a glamorous career dashed, Rosie stays in Dublin to become a single mother, while Alex pursues a medical career and a new love in Boston. But destiny is a funny thing, and in this novel, structured as a series of clever e-mails, letters, notes, and a trail of missed opportunities, Alex and Rosie find out that fate isn't done with them yet."
This is the first time that I can remember that I watched a movie and then read the book (or vice versa) and thought, "hmm. I totally understand why they took certain parts of the book away. Didn't use them. Thought of a new way to present them - because it would have been a long, boring movie if they had made it exactly how the author wrote it." And I hate thinking that.
In the movie (see THIS post for more info/my thoughts on the movie!), you're hopeful. You think they're going to get together every time because there's only a handful of times. In the book, you're exposed to the authors desire to draw the situation out. To make them wait. To make awful things happen to Rosie - getting pregnant at 18 (which is NOT always an awful thing), marrying a man and finding out he cheated (ALOT), both parents dying..I mean, home girl can't even catch a small break. And on top of that, she keeps missing Alex. Alex, by any means, is not unscathed. He is married and divorced twice by the time they get together.
Want to know when they finally get together?
WHEN THEY'RE FIFTY.
Yes, you read that correctly. Ahern's makes you wait until they're fifty years old to FINALLY get together. There's not a real reason why. Sure, they're able to grow and change and make mistakes - like everyone does - but why make them wait so long?
It was just frustrating for me as a reader to wait that long. I had to wait so long that I almost thought she would ruin their lives AGAIN and make one of them die or something. That's how done I was with waiting.
All in all - the movie was/is/will always be...better.
There was one quote that stood out to me, and it was not even at a critical moment or in a life changing speech. It was this:
"Every day conversation becomes a little longer, a little friendlier, a little less about work and a little more about life."
Life has been hard lately..and not just for me. Things are happening that aren't in our control, that weren't planned and they blast your life up anyway. You're left with pieces and shells of relationships. You're left with a few nights where you can't sleep and ice cream doesn't resolve what you think it should. But it's also left me with the resolve to get up every day. To find something that gets me out of bed - because that's the hardest part sometimes - the actual act of getting out of bed. And each day, I get up a little easier.
My troubles are nothing compared to some, I know that. But, it's helpful to know, like John Green says in "Paper Towns", that "I'm not saying everything is survivable. Just that everything except the last thing is."
If you're looking for a beach read, I'd read this. It's from the same author as "P.S. I Love You", and it doesn't bring all the feels like P.S. does. I found myself tearing up a little when I found out that both her parents died, but that's for obvious reasons. But, if you're looking for a life changer - I'd look elsewhere.
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I know my book reviews end up sounding like a motivational poster. It's just funny that reading is sometimes the closest thing I have to hearing God's voice. That there's parts of people floating around and sometimes what they have to say is what He needs me to hear. And share.
Have a good Thursday!
C
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