i’ll tell you the truth: i loved this book. i wish i had written this book. i adore every single sentence that lorrie moore has ever written. i want her to be my aunt, my mentor, my best friend. but i’m not going to recommend it to you because it seems like one of those books that people really really hate. and i get it. it’s got sort of a strange structure. nothing ever happens until Something Happens but then The Something disappears as quickly and oddly as it came. but isn’t that a little like life? so your boyfriend turns out to be part of a terrorist cell… life goes on right? you don’t spend the rest of your life hunting him down. or you do, but you just do it on facebook and pretend like you’re networking.

whether you’re a fan of the plot or not, this woman has sentences so gorgeous they will make you weep. she’s wry and sarcastic and witty and depressing. it’s brilliant. if you’re in the mood to read a novel that somehow captures the essence of my inner self during my first year in college, moore did it and it’s here in this book. if you were a moody, brooding, thoughtful, and overwhelmed freshman humanities major, then i think you might like it as much as i did.