Thought Box/Review for A Love Story Starring My Dead Best Friend
By Emily Horner
I finished this a month ago and was too overwhelmed with everything else to post about it. But it's here now and that's all that matters. Because I read it quickly, and the details aren't as fresh as they were a few weeks ago, I'm going to do this Thought Box a little differently. (With bulletpoints! Well, to an extent.)*
Anyway: Love Story focuses on Cass, a high schooler who is dealing with the aftermath of the death of her best friend, Julia. (I know it sounds cliche, but trust me: there's a whole lot more to the story than you'd think.) There are two alternating storylines, "Then" and "Now". "Then" follows Cass as she makes her way to California cross-country--by bicycle--to see the ocean, carrying Julia's ashes with her. (Her reason for doing this stems from plans for a California road trip that she and Julia had made before Julia's death.) "Now" focuses on the events post-trip, as Cass helps with the tech crew for the production of "Totally Sweet Ninja Death Squad," the musical Julia had been working on before she died. Cass finds herself dealing with her grief in different and similar ways as the rest of the cast, and also working closely with Heather, the girl who made her life a living hell in elementary and middle school. As time goes on, and the more she and Heather deal with the reality of their mutual past, Cass finds herself falling for her.
The first thing you have to understand about this book is that it flows in a very different manner than one might expect. There was a specific reason I read it so quickly--it's EXCELLENT. The two storylines are brilliantly balanced, alternating by chapter. The action in each seems to mirror one another; as if something that happens in "Now" reminds Cass of the events in "Then" that had happened just months before, and we see it because she remembers it. We see the two versions of Cass grow simultaneously and it's really quite beautiful. Sometimes this kind of back-and-forth storyline does not work (i.e. "The Summer I Turned Pretty," which I found to be confusing past patience), but it really does here. It's clear that Horner took great care to weave the two stories together in a way that best suited Cass's journey. Beautiful, beautiful stuff.
Cass does a LOT of growing up throughout the novel, and I think it's interesting that she almost has TWO coming-of-age revelations because of the events in each storyline. We see Cass really coming to terms with both Julia's passing in "Then" and her sexuality, having her first kiss with a male bass player at a hotel she finds herself in the early morning, and then soon after having her first real relationship with a girl she meets in Missouri. But then there's an interesting of mix of these things PLUS her still-very-strong grief PLUS her discomfort and clashing with Oliver and the other drama kids, who are dealing with their own grief.
In "Now," we see the tail-end of the former clashing with the others, but more importantly Cass dealing with the past she has had with Heather and how she is beginning to feel and see her differently. I loved reading their interactions; Heather has a particular way of speaking with Cass, and I was fascinated with the way in which Cass would respond to her. (It's hard to put into words; they are simultaneously in tune with one another while also being on completely different wavelengths.) There are some important things we discover about Heather as well, and their complicated relationship continues to complicate itself as the story continues.
But wait, there's more! (And it's good!) One thing that runs pretty steadily throughout both storylines is Cass coming to terms with her feelings for Julia. It's marvelous to see Cass working through all of these intertwined emotions because thy are so multi-dimensional....I laughed as she sticks her head out of a hotel window to yell up at the sky, informing her dead best friend that she'd had her first kiss. I found myself wrapped up in the emotions as she yells toward the ocean near the end of the novel...so many moments very much like these.
A few other things I loved: Cass' growing collection of trinkets as she makes her journey cross-country, the fact she rode a BICYCLE (heck yes!), she and her parents are Quakers, nerd jokes galore, LGBT characters (Props to Jon, Cass, and Heather), believable and non-cliche depictions of grief and its effects, the ending of the "Then" storyline--both brilliant and unexpected--and, among many other things, a musical about FREAKIN' NINJAS, complete with gore and catapults and all other cool props.
If I had any criticisms (and believe me, they are few), it would be that sometime it was hard to follow dialog. I sometimes had to count back to keep track of who was speaking, and some of of the important elements of the plot, etc. were hard to keep track of at first--but then again, I did read the book quickly...
I think what it really comes down to is the character of Cass, because she's what's really driving this story. She's a strong protagonist, and throughout the novel, you can't help but feel the emotion right along with her. I'm keeping my eye out for any future novels that Horner puts out. I know they will be just as beautiful as this one.
*So my apologies if this post seems jumbled and fragmented. Future Thought Boxes will be easier to follow, I promise.
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