Book of the week: As She Climbed Across The Table, by Jonathan Lethem.
The ultimate tale of jilt: girl loves boy, except boy loves another girl, except that girl is in love with a vacuous alternative universe named “Lack.” Yes, this genre of this book is science fiction, yet I feel like it could be a biography (ok, so unrequited love is sort of my thang. Case in point, I had to ask a boy to prom). I digress. Below is my favorite passage:
“She smiled. ‘Just don’t forget that there are other options. That your life can change. People do forget.’ She tugged my hand and drew me close enough to kiss. Her lips were dry and cool. I thought I could feel her smiling around my mouth.
It only lasted an instant. Just long enough for me to wonder if I was numb to Cynthia Jalter the way Alice was numb to me, the way Lack was numb to Alice. Were we links in a chain?” (page 107).
