Are you looking for something to read this summer? This book is not brand new but maybe you haven’t heard of it yet. I learned about, Something Borrowed on the Don’t Keep Your Day Job Podcast. (I highly recommend this podcast, which stole the motto for my life btw.) Host Cathy Heller recently interviewed author, Emily Giffin, and I knew I had to read the book.
For me, while I enjoy the heck out of them, a little chick-lit goes a long way. I like my stories darker and more domestic. The focus on youthful attraction to courtship to commitment feels icky to middle-aged me but Something Borrowed was a refreshing surprise.
Most love stories have triangles and this book has a doozy. The narrator, Rachel (why are all the twisted-sister heroines so aptly named Rachel?) is lusting after the man her best friend is about to marry. In fact, Rachel is the maid of honor. Ouch. Talk about conflict.
Giffin’s treatment of the best friend character, who is kind of a bitch but likeable anyway, is deftly handled. The two women have much to be in friction over including the suspicion that the bride-to-be has been dishonest and in competition with Rachel for their entire lives. Rachel has the typical low self-esteem of a chick-lit heroine but not obnoxiously so. The two women ring true for me. I could identify. I don’t know which one I’ve been in my life, probably both.
Emily Giffin took the risk of alienating us readers with a heroine who commits such a despicable act so early in the story. What kind of person cheats with their best friend’s fiancé? Call me a prude, but that is a big-big-no-no. On the other hand, in the heat of passion, have I done despicable things to other women behind their backs? Yes, I have, and I’m not proud of it. But I would argue, like our heroine that I couldn’t help myself. The desire I felt was stronger than all my own arguments, morals, and ethics. Call it mating instinct, call in phenylalanine, whatever it is, it’s kryptonite. Have I had it done to me? Yup. The grievous feelings of the betrayed are hiding in my heart as well.
Giffin does an amazing job describing the attraction, jealousy, and desire of our two lovebirds. It was palpable and visceral and for me it excused Rachel’s terrible behavior. I am currently putting the finishing touches on a coming-of-age story about a teenager trapped in desire and obsession. I’m also in the process of planning another book about a middle-aged woman trapped in a bad marriage and tempted out of it by a sweet-talking colleague. This topic is of endless fascination to me so it’s satisfying to read a novel that touches on the same crazed emotions but with a lighthearted and oftentimes comical perspective.
I’m looking forward to the next books in the series, in fact, I will read everything Emily Giffin writes. She’s that good. (If you’re already a fan, you’ll be happy to know she has a new book called All We Ever Wanted.)
Let me know what you think of Something Borrowed in the comments.