I think Jeffrey sums it up best in his afterward: “Although based on actual events, this book leaves so much unsaid that you may as well consider it to be fiction”. This is the story of his third significant romance, so if there are any continuity nuts who wondered why I didn’t get to his second girlfriend first on the site… nah, never mind, nobody is that obsessive. As in Clumsy, this starts at the beginning, when a friend tells him about his girlfriend’s new roommate and how they would be good together all the way to the inevitable end of the relationship. At least, I think that’s what happened. Look, if you hate spoilers I’m going to let loose here, so avert your dainty eyes. The book ends with his girlfriend (no idea if they were still dating at that point though) coming for what seems to be a happy visit, then it ends, and in the afterward it seems pretty clear that it all blew up, as they’re not on speaking terms. This sort of thing always mystifies me, because why dig into all the gory details about a relationship and then leave so many things so nebulous? Don’t get me wrong here, this is Jeffrey Brown we’re talking about and about 95% of the book is his typical wonderfulness, dealing with the quiet moments in a relationship that fly right by most people. It’s invaluable that all this stuff is catalogued here. The thing is, it’s hard to feel a ton of sympathy for the guy. When he starts dating someone he gets insanely jealous by the littlest things and can’t seem to go more than a few hours without talking to his girlfriend. This, naturally, smothers the girl, who slowly leaves, as even the great guy that Jeffrey mostly seems to be can’t make up for the complete lack of independence. I have no idea if this is still going on with the guy (this was a story about 2002, published in 2005), but if it is, well, back off a bit. This is, of course, coming from somebody who has no business in the world giving relationship advice to another human being, so please take that with the appropriate bucket of salt. All in all, if you like his other stuff (and who doesn’t?) then you’ll probably love this too. It’s just when I get that voyeuristic peek in the window of his life, I want to see all that happened and not be left wondering about some of the most crucial bits. $12
Optical Sloth
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