Nora Bishop has a problem; she can't seem to shut down the
annoying inner monologue of her "meta-life" which prevents
her from living in the moment, since she's too busy
analyzing everything she's doing as she's doing it. She's
stuck in a job she hates, she has no clear goals for her
future, and she's in danger of slowly driving herself
crazy. On the plus side, she just moved in with her
boyfriend of six months, Dan, after her former roommate
kicked her out, and her rent bill will be significantly
lower. Now if she could just be certain that she's not
making a huge mistake.
What Nora really wants to do is write, but she's never been
able to summon the willpower to follow through on any of
her ideas, at least until the day she quits her job on an
impulse and starts up a new business writing online dating
profiles for those who lack the skills or the time to write
heir own. Suddenly, Nora thinks she's found her calling,
and for a time, everything is bliss; she's making money,
she has free time to enjoy her surroundings, and she and
Dan are getting along great. But when the meta-life starts
to slowly creep back in, she begins to view her job as
tedious and boring, her future as a bleak wasteland, and
her relationship as a broken-down wreck on the highway of
life. As Nora bends to the pressure of her inner voice,
she makes a couple of very bad decisions which threaten to
take away everything she cares about. Pushed to the brink
as her world begins to crumble, Nora must face some very
tough facts about the person she has become, and begin to
ask herself what kind of person she wants to be.
I don't often laugh out loud on page one of a book, but
that's exactly what happened when I picked up FIVE THING I
CAN'T LIVE WITHOUT. The opening chapter is quirky and
funny, and Nora's character is so likeable, yet so fatally
flawed, that you can't help wondering what challenge she's
going to create for herself next. Her struggles with her
new chosen career, her developing relationship with Dan,
and her painful self-discovery all add delightful depth to
her character, and make her honest and real. Add to that
the comic elements of life in the internet dating world,
and you get a hilarious and heart-warming tale that is
likely to find a spot on your keeper shelf.
On paper, Nora's life looks perfect. She's moving in with
her boyfriend Dan, she has a stable job and a great group of
friends. But she's stuck in what she refers to as
"meta-life," the plight of overthinking and secondguessing
to the point of self-sabotage. One day at work, Nora decides
to thwart her meta-life by following her instincts. In what
feels like a moment of revelation, she quits her job.
Immediately, her meta-life goes into overdrive: What on
earth was she thinking--and what is she going to do now?
Fortunately, when a friend asks Nora to rewrite her Internet
dating profile, she realizes that not only is she good at
it, but she really enjoys it. Billing herself as a Cyrano de
Bergerac for the lovelorn, Nora finally begins to find
professional success. But soon, Nora's meta-life has latched
onto the question she's asked so many clients: What are the
five things she can't live without? Is her flourishing
business one of them? Is Dan? With each new client and each
step she takes in her own relationship, she must confront
her biggest demon-- her self-sabotaging "meta-life." But
will she be able to slay it forever?
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