Monday, October 15, 2012

#BookReview: Falling Together - Marisa de los Santos

We're all familiar with the poem that states, "People come into your life for a reason, season or a lifetime."  From the first day they meet as college freshmen, Pen, Will and Cat are sure that they're destined to be in each other's lives forever.  Within their symbiotic relationship, Pen is the caretaker, Will is the thinker and Cat is the carefree spirit that makes the friendship work.

As adults, their friendship continues until the day Cat makes the decision to leave the group, with the request that they not try to find one another in the future.  Though Will and Pen try to make their friendship work without Cat, she's the missing piece of their puzzle and so they too agree to end their friendship.  But not a day goes by that Pen doesn't think of her friends and wonder if she's left an empty space in their lives as they've left in hers.

The day an email arrives from Cat asking both Pen and Will to attend their college reunion because she needs them, both are hesitant, but it's Cat, so, of course, they'll attend.  Except Cat isn't there, at least not physically, her husband is and he's the one that needs their help.

Cat's presence is felt so strongly throughout this book, though she's mostly spoken of in third person.  As much as Will and Pen adored her, I came away from this book disliking her immensely.  Pen and Will, but especially Pen, have had so much faith in her and remembered so many good things about her.  I'd agree with them that she was a light-hearted free spirit, but she was also selfish and unfeeling.  You certainly can't expect your friends to be the same way they were years ago, but to be dismissive of them as if they never played an important role in your life is cruel.

Looking back, Cat played the child to adult-like Pen and Will when they were students.  So she expected them to take care of her until she was ready to take care of herself and when she was ready to do that, she no longer had any use for them.  Like parents that sometimes fall apart when their child leaves the nest, Will and Pen fell apart without Cat.  I think that's why I dislike her so much.  It's her departure that interrupts their lives for years until she summons them.

I didn't expect to be so drawn in to Falling Together or to become so heavily invested in the characters.  Marisa de los Santos tricks the reader into caring about the characters by making them fully developed multi-dimensional characters.  This was my first read from her and I can't wait to delve into more from her.





384pp
Published: October 2012
Disclaimer: Copy of book received from publisher, opinions are my own.

Theme: Somebody That I Used to Know by Gotye

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