Mormon housewife Becky Jack has been lucky a lot in her life. She has a happy loving family, a husband she can't get enough of even after years and years of marriage, and three beautiful children and another on the way. But when she meets her number one heart throb actor, Felix Callahan, while selling her first screenplay (a fluke event in itself), she has to wonder where the line between coincidence and fate is drawn, and not for the reasons anyone would think.
This isn't a story documenting how good wife Becky leaves her husband for a debonair actor, this isn't about love at first sight followed by affairs and angst. They meet and the most unexpected thing happens: they become friends, best friends. This friendship sets Becky out on a path she never imagined and defines her life in new ways, both good and not so good. Told in the witty and absolutely hysterical voice of Becky a she tries to find her way in a world that says women and men can't just be friends, it is a story of love and friendship and how it makes us who we are.
I would like to state first of all that I absolutely loved this book. I loved it from a writer's point of view and on a personal level. This story resonated with me particularly because I have very strong and important relationships with people I consider to be my best friends. One of these people is a man. The way I feel about my best friend is simple: I love him completely and totally platonically (yes this is a word, I made it up just now). I understand exactly what it feels like to be in the position that Becky finds herself in. I think it is absolutely possible to have a significant other who is the light of your life, but also have a friend who is an integral part of your survival as well. Love doesn't see gender, race, age, or the number of other things that make us unique. When you click with someone, you just click. And it doesn't mean you have to sleep with them either, So I guess you could say I brought a lot of my own baggage and opinions to my reflection of how much I liked this story, but there it is.
Besides this, I think the novel was amazingly well written. Dialogue and narration flowed flawlessly, making even the normal and more mundane happenings in the novel funny and arresting, It was not a short book by any means, but I read it in a few days, hardly able to tear my eyes away. If not for work and the day to day responsibilities of being an "adult" I wouldn't have stopped. I didn't want to do anything other than read this book. It is also very poignantly written. I was laughing out loud all the way through and when it mattered most I was crying right along with the character. I think this is one of the most important and greatest gifts of storytelling: not just telling a story, but making the listener or reader feel it. I felt this story all the way to my bones. Also, in reflection oft he story's message, in some way I think it says something very important about out society and out skewed views of what is and is not okay when it comes to the tricky subjects of love and friendship
There wasn't a part of this book I didn't like. From beginning to end I was wowed. I highly recommend it to any and all readers, though I will warn that the main character's Mormon background is present because you are seeing this all from Becky's point of view. It is a big part of her life and therefore can't be ignored completely. If anyone is uncomfortable with the ideas of this religion, or reading a book with any kind of religious reference, they might not want to read this book. However I feel like there is a big difference between a book that describes and observes the goings on and lifestyle of a certain religious type, and a book that has religious overtones that try to persuade the reader to follow that doctrine. It can't be helped that we see what Becky feels, she is the main character! Personally I found the story refreshing in that I actually got to look into that community type of life and for once it wasn't being demonized as it so often is. In this story it is more a look into Becky's life and ways rather than a preaching for the religion. There is nothing I hate worse than an author trying to use their story to shove their own ideologies down my throat. This was not that kind of book. If anything I could admit that there could have been more information about the LDS church and I wouldn't have minded.
So all in all, if you have an open mind and are up for a really great story, this is an amazing book.
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