To the Green-eyed Lovebird:
We met fifteen years ago, almost to the day, when I moved my stuff into the NYU dorm room next to yours at Senior House.
You called us fast friends. I like to think it was more.
We lived on nothing but the excitement of finding ourselves through music (you were obsessed with Jeff Buckley), photography (I couldn’t stop taking pictures of you), hanging out in Washington Square Park, and all the weird things we did to make money. I learned more about myself that year than any other.
Yet, somehow, it all fell apart. We lost touch the summer after graduation when I went to South America to work for National Geographic. When I came back, you were gone. A part of me still wonders if I pushed you too hard after the wedding…
I didn’t see you again until a month ago. It was a Wednesday. You were rocking back on your heels, balancing on that thick yellow line that runs along the subway platform, waiting for the F train. I didn’t know it was you until it was too late, and then you were gone. Again. You said my name; I saw it on your lips. I tried to will the train to stop, just so I could say hello.
After seeing you, all of the youthful feelings and memories came flooding back to me, and now I’ve spent the better part of a month wondering what your life is like. I might be totally out of my mind, but would you like to get a drink with me and catch up on the last decade and a half?
Review:
With this book, not only did I get introduced to new characters I got swept away by the arts, guided through a city and I fell in love with a story. Every page came to life, creating a backdrop full of sights, scents and sounds that captured all my attention and sent me on one of the most emotional journeys I've ever been on whilst reading.
There were moments shared between Matt and Grace, so sweet, that I couldn't stop smiling, their feelings for each other so strong and beautiful it was impossible not to feel their joy when they were together. They were so in love that they noticed even the most minute details that related back to the other, even the length of sound from a jingle of a door opening. Mattie and Gracie's paths however did not always run side by side, nor smoothly and it was in moments when cracks appeared that I either felt anger or heart break, always wanting for them to have the easy life together, a life in a less complicated world.
But when everything runs perfectly it does not always appear genuine, Before we Were Strangers is real, it is beautiful and it has the power to heal the hearts that it breaks. Renee Carlino has created yet another brilliant masterpiece.
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