Customer Reviews

Which Brings Me to You

5 star:		(8)
4 star:		(6)
3 star:		(4)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

This book caught my eye in an overseas airport. Looking, as always, for something absorbing to make a long, long trip more bearable, I thought "Which Brings Me To You" might turn off the tape recorder in my own head and free me from my own introspection. It certainly did that! Sydney to LAX to Detroit to Portland, I was an eager audience for Jane and John's "Dance of the Seven Veils."

These two thirty-somethings meet at a wedding and nearly have sex in the coat closet, then don't and decide to correspond instead. The premise may be unrealistic and the language overheated, but I never mind that in a book -- if you do, then choose something else to read. But if you ever went through that fervent dorm-room phase of trying to summarize yourself to someone who knows nothing of your history, you probably will wish you could have done it with as much wit, self-deprecation and inventiveness of language as Julianna Baggott and Steve Almond brought to this little piece. So seductive, the rhetorical substitution of part for whole, the desire to explain ourselves by explaining what we do and how we feel about it. Have you ever believed that if you could just find the right words, you could give your listener a perfect knowledge of yourself? (Can't happen!) And for that matter, have you ever thought that would be a good thing?

Jane and John are looking for acceptance, or possibly absolution, and they seem to find it in each other. Meanwhile the reader is entertained by passages of unexpected language. Jane writes, "I waited tables at Charles Village Pub and was under the mistaken impression that my life was a work of art... I don't think I have to state this but we weren't really artistes. We were PEZ dispensers with pink candy pop ideology." And a similarly self-aware passage from John: "It hadn't occurred to me, until just then, that Sunny might be interested in me. She was in this category of mother and suddenly she had slid into this seemingly-remote-but-actually-adjacent category of woman, sexual being, potential hoochie-coocher."

The reader might wonder at what point and through what agent did Jane and John have their epiphanies? Or you could just go with the flow and enjoy the imagery. Each letter offers a self-contained story and there is little sense of progression to the book, so once you understand the premise you can more or less pick it up anywhere. I recommend this book to any reader who loves an unusual turn of phrase and doesn't require a linear plot. Julianna and Steve, it must have been a fun book to write!

I read this cover to cover in 4 days. This alone is somewhat remarkable, as I usually forget that I am in the middle of a book and a few days later realize, "oh, was I reading something?" This one I could barely put down. Although it's a "novel" of sorts, it's really comprised of a series of short stories that build on each other, which makes for easy reading.

What is particularly striking is that the reader is immediately drawn to the characters, and as the story develops, they become more and more like people I know, er, uh, myself. They become likeable in spite of (or perhaps because of) their shortcomings. They're like the rest of us - some good, some bad, and very complicated.

Jane especially unfolds into different versions of herself, just like she says. It's held together by the fact that she acknowledges that, and sees that in herself.

John (Ted??) is at first little flatter, and his motivations aren't always clearly understood. Most of this comes into focus through the course of the stories, as he sorts it out with his therapist and Jane.

When it looks like it's heading for a romp in a coat closet, the expectation is for a light-hearted story. Instead, Baggot and Almond let the complexity and messiness of life take over. What develops is an intense, big story, made up of these equally powerful little stories that go back and forth in letters. The last third of the book was extremely moving, and pretty much had me in tears most of the time.

The one unbelievable part is that these two random strangers turn out to be such great story tellers, and they found each other. But then, I guess that's the unbelievable thing about any relationship.

What I mean by all this is "wow."

The work provides another blow to the straightjacket, mind numbing culture of romance in the good old U.S. of A. The narrative explores two people's past lovers, and they do come close to hooking-up when they first meet at a wedding, but they do not grab the "let's get to know each other" handle as a way to do it the "right way," though the male is the one who pops the 'chute before they sate their lusts. No, what happens is true to life: they realize as they narrate their loves that human beings are incredibly complex and live incredibly complex lives, especially ones who seek an active life, thus there really isn't "the one." They do contemplate the question of whether it's best to be loved or understood, but that's a product of the prevailing culture of romance. What they and the readers come to understand is that our complexity makes sustaining the romantic ideal a fair bet at best. In fact, the two epistolary lovers know at the end that they are both committed to the quest for love, whatever that entails. As Baggott quotes from The Confessions of Saint Augustine, "And what was it that delighted me? Only this--to love and be loved," the two come to realize that the quest for love is part of the human condition, whether you stay with a lover for one month, one year, ten years, forty years is irrelevant. The challenge is whether you are willing to put your heart on the chopping block, and they wonder along with us if many of the ones who continue on are really the ones who have decided to walk off the field, the battle over. The letters are achingly funny and honest, a respite from the dominant simple-minded culture of these early years of the twenty-first century.

Steve Almond and Julianna Baggott should be congratulated for the back and forth concept they used. Fun. The little book was fun, Jon and Jane writing alternating letters to reveal their loves and lives to one another. A method of exploration from afar.
The book almosts works but it just isn't great. Some letters are fun and some sad. This isn't bad it just didn't work the way I hoped when I read a newspaper articule on the book. It is an easy fast read, so give it a try. A lot of reviewers seem to like it more than me.

Jane and John meet at a wedding reception and after some witty banter agree on having sex in the coatroom. After the clothes come off, John changes his mind and decides he wants to take things slow because he feels that Jane might be The One. So they decide to write letters, via postal mail only, confessing prior amorous indiscretions. This was an annoying concept when I read it but worked out in the end. The writing is really sharp and clever and just on that alone the book is worth the read.

For years, I've heard people say you should never talk about past relationships with your dates. Here, "John" and "Jane" take the opposite approach: They BEGAN a relationship through the mail, through a series of "confessions" about past loves. I was initially irritated when I heard the two characters' names. I was really hoping at some point, it would be revealed that they had real names, and not these ridiculously-cliched names. But, that didn't happen, so I guess you'll just have to accept that. As someone who has been out of the dating pool for a decade, I must say I was alarmed at how quickly and nonchalantly these characters jumped in and out of sexual relationships. It seemed like 10 minutes was more than enough time for them to sneak off to a coat closet with a stranger. So, it was all the more surprising that something clicked when John met Jane and they decided NOT to follow that pattern and get to know each other first. What a concept! I felt the authors did not set up a very realistic beginning here. From the very first letter, the sexual details are extremely explicit. I just didn't buy the fact that two strangers would open up so intimately about themselves. But, eventually, I was able to get over this, and I did sort of find myself caring and interested in the lives of these characters. Will things be different for John and Jane? Will they find happiness? Jane points out an important point: The things that a person CHOOSES to reveal, or even chooses subconsciously to remember, is significant. These confessional letters are not necessarily truth: They, in the end, are not really about the "ex" at all. They reveal more about the letter writer's psyche than anthing else. It was sort of a reality-television, voyeuristic take on relationships -- a guilty pleasure. I would recommend this book, but it's definitely not for everyone.

I've enjoyed Steve Almond's previous books, and I know Julianna Baggott and love her work. So I was excited to see how these skillful, prolific writers would handle a co-effort with a terrific premise: two bruised but tough customers skip the quick wedding hookup in favor of no-holds-barred epistolary confessions. Their gamble is they won't thoroughly disgust each other by the time they're through, and might even have a chance at real love. I think it's great that John and Jane, the two otherwise hip and worldly protagonists, chose good old snail mail--the book could have been pulled off in email, but the fact that they chose letters meant they really wanted to slow down and think about what they had to say, to commit to it in a way that a blip on a screen (no matter how long it lives on a server or in the latest NSA database) just can't accomplish. As their stories, and their characters, take shape, you alternately root for and want to slap them. But ultimately, you want them to win. You want them to finally meet again, and find what has eluded them so far, true love.

Get it and enjoy!

I really liked Steve Almond's other works, and was a little hesitant about this one becuase it was co-authored. It was great though, and I read through it very quickly. I agree that the letters are not necessarily realistic-type letters, but they work as short stories that fit together to build the book.

I was overwhelmingly pleased with the book.

This is a novel in letters. After Jane and John almost hook up at a wedding, they agree to slow down and get to know each other...through a series of written confessions.

This device is a little creaky in an age of e-mail, but they are both good storytellers. Their stories strain credibility -- whose love lives are so packed with melodrama and disaster? -- but each letter is like a short story that pulls you in. At first, Almond's writing seems stronger, but Baggott catches up near the end.

I didn't really buy Jane and John as a couple...they both seemed overanalytical, intense, and issue-laden. In real life, each of them would probably have had an even-keeled, calmer mate to balance them out. Still, it was fun to spend time with them, and the concept helped make this a truly original novel.

Literary writing in the can't put it down format of genre writing. The concept is novel for the free love generation-- protagonists on the verge of not even first date sex decide to get to know each other first via letter writing. Central questions: Do we want to be loved, or do we want to be understood?; If you understand me, will you be able to love me? Past sexual relationships are explored in these letter exchanges, and former lovers come alive with all of their eccentricities and endearing qualities in full display.