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kneesuh 's review for:
The Unfinished Line
by Jen Lyon
It's not often I feel compelled to write a review for a book. Though, I often have lots of opinions, I've just never needed to run to my keyboard to put down my thoughts. This is obviously the exception. This book is a masterpiece in every sense of the word. It is a beautiful love story. You are warned at the beginning that it's a love story, not to be confused with a romance. As someone who has been married now for 11 years and with my now wife for a total of 14.5 yrs, I can tell you there is a distinction. Romance is easy to get swept up in and it gives the warm and fuzzies and it's great, but it can be fleeting. Love is harder. Love is messier. And love can be work. It can come in many forms: friends, families, siblings, parents, lovers. This is a love story.
Narratively, Jen makes a unique decision to tell us the story through two styles: First person for Kam and Third person for Dillon. I think its brilliance lies in the fact that by being told Kam's story in the first person, we the reader are more connected to Kam and we feel like we are Kam as we go through this. It also disconnects us a bit from Dillon. Which, I think is where some of the upset comes in for this book. We feel for Kam - we fell for Dillon the way that Kam did, and so when Take 1 hits, it hits hard. Take 2 seems placating, but ultimately not real. And that's upsetting.
For me personally, I had a different take. I was consistently drawn to Dillon's narrative despite the third person. I didn't really understand why until we got deeper into her spiral and it dawned on my. I am Dillon. This book, while it puts you into Kam's shoes, was written for the Dillons of the world, and that's why I'm not sad about the end. I am so unbelievably hopeful and I did get the happy ending so many people missed out on.
I have been Dillon, sitting on that shoreline and having that internal debate with myself. I have had all the doubting thoughts drowning out my rational thoughts and very nearly gave into the irrational. I was afraid to ask for help, but more to the point I thought I would be a burden if I asked. I've sought solace in the bottom of a bottle before. I've done things and said things I regretted and wondered what was wrong with me or when will I be good enough to have the pain stop. I've felt so unbelievably tired...and contemplated Take 1. I don't know how I was able to pull myself back for long enough to get Take 2, but I did. And that's why I love this book.
If you read this not as Kam's journey and not have Take 1 be her reality and Take 2 be her wishes and dreams, but re-read the end as Dillon sitting on that edge contemplating - then Take 1 and Take 2 become a choice. You are at your low point and you are being asked to contemplate how Take 1 will affect the people you leave behind - about how devastated you will make the people who love you if you go with Take 1, or you are being shown the hope and the good that can come by being brave and asking for help and opting for Take 2. Then, as Dillon, you can get your happy ending because you get to choose. As someone who was Dillon - am Dillon still on some days - this is one of the happiest endings I have read because I choose Take 2 every day...even on days when Take 2 is so damn difficult. Because I have found the strength to know that I can't put my family through Take 1. And that's why I love this book and wasn't sad or wrecked.
There are 2 ways to end this book, and you don't have to choose Take 1...there's always another take.
Narratively, Jen makes a unique decision to tell us the story through two styles: First person for Kam and Third person for Dillon. I think its brilliance lies in the fact that by being told Kam's story in the first person, we the reader are more connected to Kam and we feel like we are Kam as we go through this. It also disconnects us a bit from Dillon. Which, I think is where some of the upset comes in for this book. We feel for Kam - we fell for Dillon the way that Kam did, and so when Take 1 hits, it hits hard. Take 2 seems placating, but ultimately not real. And that's upsetting.
For me personally, I had a different take. I was consistently drawn to Dillon's narrative despite the third person. I didn't really understand why until we got deeper into her spiral and it dawned on my. I am Dillon. This book, while it puts you into Kam's shoes, was written for the Dillons of the world, and that's why I'm not sad about the end. I am so unbelievably hopeful and I did get the happy ending so many people missed out on.
I have been Dillon, sitting on that shoreline and having that internal debate with myself. I have had all the doubting thoughts drowning out my rational thoughts and very nearly gave into the irrational. I was afraid to ask for help, but more to the point I thought I would be a burden if I asked. I've sought solace in the bottom of a bottle before. I've done things and said things I regretted and wondered what was wrong with me or when will I be good enough to have the pain stop. I've felt so unbelievably tired...and contemplated Take 1. I don't know how I was able to pull myself back for long enough to get Take 2, but I did. And that's why I love this book.
If you read this not as Kam's journey and not have Take 1 be her reality and Take 2 be her wishes and dreams, but re-read the end as Dillon sitting on that edge contemplating - then Take 1 and Take 2 become a choice. You are at your low point and you are being asked to contemplate how Take 1 will affect the people you leave behind - about how devastated you will make the people who love you if you go with Take 1, or you are being shown the hope and the good that can come by being brave and asking for help and opting for Take 2. Then, as Dillon, you can get your happy ending because you get to choose. As someone who was Dillon - am Dillon still on some days - this is one of the happiest endings I have read because I choose Take 2 every day...even on days when Take 2 is so damn difficult. Because I have found the strength to know that I can't put my family through Take 1. And that's why I love this book and wasn't sad or wrecked.
There are 2 ways to end this book, and you don't have to choose Take 1...there's always another take.