What do You think about The Myth Of You And Me (2006)?
This was indeed one of those books that seemed to have been spying on my life. I found many moments of truth and I really, really identified with narrator, Cameron. The nature of female friendships is so complex, and I've never before read a book that tackles this particular subject, and so well.Some favorite quotes are below. See Tamara and Jenn's reviews for more."With moving, I have always been partial to the in-between, the blurred highway outside the window, that suspended time when everything you were lies behind you like a molted skin, and everything you might become shimmers at the horizon. You might choose anything and make it happen, constrained by nothing but your own imagination, sure that not even gravity can hold you." p. 77"So Sonia was not my only, or even my first, best friend. She was the last. It wasn't that I hadn't made friends since, just that I thought myself past the age of that particular kind of friendship. Adult friendship doesn't grant you an exclusive, isn't meant to be ranked above romance and family. I couldn't imagine ever living that moment again, when you say, with a shy and hopeful pride, 'You're my best friend.' The other person says it back and, there, you have chosen each other, out of everyone else in the world." p. 114"Nothing is stranger than the familiar become unfamiliar. A house on your street that you never stopped to see before, so that it seems to have been dropped into place with its rosebushes, its bicycles in the yard, like a fairy cottage appearing from the mist. A birthmark on your back that you never noticed in twenty-five years of looking at your own skin. Why, you don't know anything, do you? The world can crack open like an egg, spill fires into forests, rivers into streets." p. 126"Strange how uneasy I was at the thought of actually getting what I wanted. Maybe I was afraid of exchanging desire for disillusionment." p. 184"Here was the secret of this house, the thing it took bravery to face -- that to go on loving someone means to over and over allow the necessary pain." p. 272
—Rebecca
This was a book I kinda blew off to-do stuff to read. Laundry went unfolded, dishes sat undone, and I didn't care. I just wanted to read it. It resonated with me since I also had a best friend for many years who I no longer am frenz with. Although it was not for the same reason, the way the story wended its way from past to present made me think of this long lost friend, and how when your childhood memories are inextricably woven with another person, especially when that person has exited your life, leaves you missing a little bit of yourself. I can see how one might come to believe it could all be just myth, or wisps of smoke floating through your memory, never quite finding their moorings. Leah did a great job - multidimensional, strongly built characters, and overall a solid thumbs up from me.
—Amber
I have to say I wasn't sure how I felt about this book while I was reading it. I never really felt much for the main character. Maybe we aren't suppose to really like her. She shut herself off from so many people, even her own parents, only allowing in a person here and there. And I found her to be really gloomy even when the moment didn't warrant it. I also think aspects of Cameron's journey to find Sonia were interesting but some of it seemed too easy. All the people in Sonia's life seemed a little to free with information about her even allowing Cameron to look through her office. It was just weird to me. Not that it wasn't sometimes a compelling read, often it crossed over to being a little too far fetched for me. I guess I was hoping for a little more depth from all the characters. I liked the book on a whole though and wouldn't discourage anyone from reading it.
—Jennifer
