#81 of 2011: Two-Way Street by Lauren Barnholdt
After having finished a disappointing novel about breakups, I wanted to postpone reading this one because I feared that my bad-book aftermath might affect my experience. But what the heck, I have waited L-O-N-G enough and thought, “Hey, I could really use a good book rn to shake off the downset.” So I rode along with Jordan and Courtney on their trip… back to love - if they ever even left. Their situation - which was to be on the road with each other to drive to their first day in college, planned long before their breakup - and the way they handled it - which involved a lot of bantering, compromising, re-befriending - were so fun to read. Lauren Barnholdt couldn’t have chosen another way to tell the story; the use of flashbacks and alternating POVs was clever and they sure worked. More than teenage love, she was also able to tread on bigger things like the power and role of information age in our lives and also a bit on how adults - excuse me - fuck up things and “make” the younger ones carry the burden of the consequences of their faults. It was also a v. big plus that the voices of her characters were just the way I like them - direct, fearless, a bit sarcastic yet with humor, because there’s nothing better than reading about fiction that feels real to which readers can understand and connect with. Safe to say, this book was a worthwhile journey.
