"Can a Lifelong Friendship Survive Through Thick and Thin"
Reviewed by Min Jung
Posted July 20, 2011
Fiction | Contemporary Women's Fiction
Marissa and Julia have been friends since adolescence in
Michigan. Their friendship has seen them through going to
undergrad in separate states and now following their dreams
of moving to New York and pursuing their dream jobs.
Marissa now works for a magazine as a senior editor and
Julia works at a ballet company. As it has always been,
Julia is the alpha friend, calling the shots while Marissa
obediently follows, ever the follower. But when Julia gets hit by a cab and suffers a traumatic
brain injury, Marissa must fill in the blanks. Julia has
lost not only large chunks of her memory, but also much of
what made her Julia. She can no longer recognize Marissa,
often calling her the wrong name, and she is prone to
outbursts of anger. But the most upsetting thing is when
she starts dredging up painful memories from the past. Julia's parents move her back home to Michigan, where she
begins to visit with Marissa's ex-boyfriend Nathan, the very
man Julia once forced Marissa to dump, stating that he was
coming between the two best friends. Marissa is at once
confused by Julia's betrayal and also begins wondering what
might have been had she stayed with Nathan. Would she be
happier with him than with her current beau, Dave? It is only when Marissa begins coaching an after-school
running group for young girls that she begins to realize her
own inner strength and that she finds some peace within to
quiet the chaos in her mind. While seeing the relationship between Marissa and Julia
evolve was interesting, I was equally interested in watching
Marissa's relationships with her assistant, her boyfriend
and her friend Naomi, who got her involved with the running
group. These relationships evolved, as well, but without
the frustration that I felt toward Julia. The author's writing style is utterly beautiful, and I'd
love to read something else by her, but I hope it would be
something that left me feeling a little less frustrated by
the ending. As strong as I felt that Marissa had grown by
the end, I felt that she had still showed weakness in how
she left things with Julia.
SUMMARY
A moving and insightful debut novel of great friendship
interrupted. Can the relationship survive when the memories
are gone? Marissa Rogers never wanted to be an
alpha; beta suited her just fine. Taking charge without
taking credit had always paid off: vaulting her to senior
editor at a glossy magazine; keeping the peace with her
critical, weight-obsessed mother; and enjoying the benefits
of being best friends with gorgeous, charismatic, absolutely
alpha Julia Ferrar. And then Julia gets hit by a cab.
She survives with minor obvious injuries, but brain damage
steals her memory and alters her personality, possibly
forever. Suddenly, Marissa is thrown into the role of alpha
friend. As Julia struggles to regain her memory- dredging up
issues Marissa would rather forget, including the fact that
Julia asked her to abandon the love of her life ten years
ago- Marissa's own equilibrium is shaken. With the
help of a dozen girls, she reluctantly agrees to coach in an
after-school running program. There, Marissa uncovers her
inner confidence and finds the courage to reexamine her past
and take control of her future. The Art of
Forgetting is a story about the power of friendship, the
memories and myths that hold us back, and the delicate
balance between forgiving and forgetting.
What do you think about this review?
Comments
1 comment posted.
Re: Can a Lifelong Friendship Survive Through Thick and Thin
This is a very thought-provoking interview. Yes, I think friendship can survive
many ups and downs, however, it takes work on the part of both friends. I
feel that friendships fail when only one person does most of the "friending."
That sort of relationship is a type of crutch that is destined to crumble.
Connie Fischer
[email protected]
(Connie Fischer 3:48pm September 2, 2011)
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