The book narrates the friendship between Esther and Laura, who have been friends since they were 7. As a full-time mother, Esther barely have to time to think about their friendship, not until Laura has gone missing without a word. Esther immediately leaves her husband and her child and flies to San Francisco in search of her best friend. The development of their friendship unfolds as the author inserts flashbacks of the past in the story. Much inspired by the kick-ass actress Drew Barrymore, the two girls live their lives according to her gospel. The story, too, is arranged chronologically in reference of Drew's filmography (more specifically, each chapter begins with a quote from one of her films). In the course of Esther's search for Laura, she is bound to face the truths to their friendship which she has avoided facing for so long. As a person who has limited knowledge in films, I could hardly recall what movies were Drew Barrymore in. But then when the book mentioned 50 First Dates as well as Music & Lyrics (the "Way Back Into Love" film starring Drew and Hugh Grant), I know exactly who she is. Despite of that fact that I could not remember what the movies were about, I could follow the flow of the book very well. Almost every quote from the films goes with the story. The owl scene while the two girls are fighting to be Gertie during childhood, in particular, feels very genuine to me. The writing style of the book is also rather interesting, that the writer skims the surface of almost every event and instead focuses her attention in depicting the friendship between the two. (Not even crucial event like Esther's marriage, her miscarriages and stuff.) As a 400-page novel, I could hardly bear it if the author is to describe every detail of their lives since 1982 (up to 2013). I would say that the author has done a fairly good job on this.
As a book with a friendship theme, it revolves around the following quote:
"Friendship is like a shark: it has to keep moving forwards to survive. And if it is, then ours (Laura and I) has been swimming repetitive circles in an aquarium tank for too long. We've been moving without making any progress. But now the tank door has opened, showing the way out to the sea, and either we take it together or we say goodbye." - Esther, p. 389
I cannot help but resonate with this saying that friendship has to keep moving forward to survive. Many of the times, we lose friends as we cease to catch up with them. The case of a best friend, however, is quite tricky- at the glimpse of it, you will have no doubt that you are always sticking up with one another- you may even talk everyday about the tiniest things in life. But as you give more thoughts to it, you may realize that it is not indeed the case. How much do you really know about your friend? Your understanding on him/ her depends on the memories you share with one other, as well as your mental construction based on your friend's description. But you barely know what is really going through in your friend's life- what he/she surrounds him/herself with everyday, their suffering, and how they feel what they feel. Nonetheless, best friends take things together, and this truth that one is consciously avoiding has yet to be resolved. Another take-away from this book is this lesson about the past:
"There is another road running alongside this one, both heading up into the hills. Sometimes I can see it very clearly, and other times it recedes- I think it must have gone, but then it is back again. In and out of view, all the time. It makes me think that the past must be like this- always there, every strand of it running alongside you, sometimes clear, sometimes distant. Every possible life you might have led, every choice you didn't make, even if you thought it gone forever. The past is always there, always, it's just a matter of finding a way in." - p.63
The quote above, I believe, is pretty self-explanatory that I am not intended of further explaining it. If there is anything that can be improved, I think it has to do with the ending of the book- it is too abrupt and casual. But perhaps it is a way to keep the story authentic- that things do not have to be all sorted out in a friendship at once , and maybe it will become clear as friends make compromises as they grow with one another.
