Or so the theory says in the book, London is the Best City in America by Laura Dave.
The book was okay. I read it because I needed a quick ego boost. I have been struggling to finish anything as of late, and I just needed something I knew I could read in a few hours and be done with it. I could feel better knowing I finally accomplished something.
However, the book was just a time waster and I even had difficulty finishing it. I don’t think it the fault was in the writer or the writing; I think it is I.
In the novel, the reader meets Emmy who is just about to marry Matt. She is sitting in a hotel room and she can feel the distance that has grown between her and her betrothed and she felt that his love was missing. So she does the only honest thing she can think of which is to put the ring down and peace it.
We follow her for the next three years as she works on this documentary film about the lives of fishermen and we see how she avoids her family in NY by staying in RI.
She can’t avoid her family anymore because her brother is getting married and she is the maid of honor. Too bad her brother has fallen in love with a dog breeder named Elizabeth.
Drama ensues.
This book was not a total loss. I did take to very interesting life theories.
The first being that you can ascertain your relationship with a person by looking at the first five minutes you meet them.
I started thinking about my life and I started applying this theory into practice. The first time I met this one person everything was all jumbled. It was all about what you wanted and or needed and I was just along for the ride. I didn’t have much to comment on because I was too busy putting out your fires and trying to make you happy. Too bad not much has changed.
Then when I met that person, we talked forever. It was like I had known you my whole life and I could talk to you about anything. I felt the deep connection that you were bound to me and would always lend your support, advice, and horrific bad jokes. Again, not much has changed.
But hindsight can to that to us all. We can look at our lives and apply any theory we want and make it fit. We are the masters of our memories and we can filter it any way we need want to filter it. So, in that stream of thought, is any theory every really wrong?
The second theory is that all men will stay in a relationship until the women call it off because they don’t want to be the bad guy.
I don’t think this one is as accurate. I don’t think anyone wants to be the bad guy. However, if you stay with someone to avoid hurting him or her, we all know you end up hurting him or her more. You keep hope alive for them and you stop them from meeting the next person they could be with.
We all want to avoid hurting others and we all know how much pain we can take.
But again, staying with someone to stop you from being the bad guy just makes you the bad guy.
This book again was just something to give me an ego boost. I needed something to accomplish so I can say, “Well I finished that one, and I can finish this one, too. It is only a book.” If you need a book to read on the beach or at the gym, this book would work. Just keep in mind, I would classify it has chick lit so if you don’t want the world to know you read chick lit, grab a classic.
July 28, 2009 at 3:52 am
I would have to say that you can’t learn all you need to know about a person in five minutes. Some people are shy around new people and require more time for you to get to know them. I have known people for over 20 years and still wonder if I even or ever knew them at all.
No one likes to be the bad guy in a relationship that is true, but it takes a lot of strength to know when it is over and do something about it. When I broke up with my ex, we were not getting along. He was miserable and I was miserable. I knew it was time, so I had to make the move and break it off with him. It was hard, yes for both of us, but in the end ….it was the right thing. We are both happier.
I hope that when the right person comes into my life that I will know it in the first five minutes, but we’ll have to see 🙂
July 28, 2009 at 7:39 pm
I think what you do learn in the first five minutes is how your relationship with that person will pan out.
I don’t know if I would want to know in just five minutes if this person or that was the right one. I don’t think there ever is just one right one.