The Myth of You and Me: A Novel
by Leah Stewart
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other reviews (showing 1-20 of 1423)
Read in September, 2007
recommends it for:
No One
by: Leah Stewart
Month Read: September 2007
Series:
Pages: 276
Number: 52
Synopsis:
From Publishers Weekly
Stewart peers into the complicated heart of friendship in a moving second novel (after 2000's Body of a Girl). Ever since a cataclysmic falling out with her best friend, Sonia, after college, Cameron's closest companion has been Oliver, the 92-year-old historian she lives with and cares for in Oxford, Miss. Oliver's death leaves Cameron alone and adrift, until she discovers...more
Month Read: September 2007
Series:
Pages: 276
Number: 52
Synopsis:
From Publishers Weekly
Stewart peers into the complicated heart of friendship in a moving second novel (after 2000's Body of a Girl). Ever since a cataclysmic falling out with her best friend, Sonia, after college, Cameron's closest companion has been Oliver, the 92-year-old historian she lives with and cares for in Oxford, Miss. Oliver's death leaves Cameron alone and adrift, until she discovers...more
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Read in September, 2007
recommends it for:
women
This was indeed one of those books that seemed to have been spying on my life. I found many moments of truth and I really, really identified with narrator, Cameron. The nature of female friendships is so complex, and I've never before read a book that tackles this particular subject, and so well.
Some favorite quotes are below. See Tamara and Jenn's reviews for more.
"With moving, I have always been partial to the in-between, the blurred highway outside the window, that suspended time...more
Some favorite quotes are below. See Tamara and Jenn's reviews for more.
"With moving, I have always been partial to the in-between, the blurred highway outside the window, that suspended time...more
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Read in August, 2007
As a perpetually single person, I greatly appreciate books that take friendships as seriously as romantic relationships. As the main character states, friendships are a lot like relationships. At times you will sleep next to that person, you will feel hope and loss with that person, you will eat hundreds of dinners with that person, and you feel a sense of responsibility to that person.
From beginning to end, this was another one of those books that speaks truths about life in a way that ...more
From beginning to end, this was another one of those books that speaks truths about life in a way that ...more
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Read in May, 2007
Most women can attest that friendships go through many phases in life – some friends you keep, some you disconnect from entirely, some simply become names on a Christmas card list. Then there are best friends, the ones that shaped your life and the person you became. You can clearly remember everything about how you met; in some cases, you can remember exactly how your friendship collapsed.
The friendship between Cameron and Sonia, which began when they were 14, ends soon after college. ...more
The friendship between Cameron and Sonia, which began when they were 14, ends soon after college. ...more
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Read in August, 2007
cheers for stewarts ability to chronicle the anguish of so many women who endure loving and losing their best friend. for some it's college, a job, a boyfriend, or the heartache of outgrowing each other. in my case, i was confused by desires to cross boundaries. i tip toed along the invisible line that separated mutual adoration from unreciprocated attraction. after realizing i was in love with my bff, i came out, just not to her (at least not for another 10yrs).
while i agree that a happy...more
while i agree that a happy...more
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Read in August, 2007
I wasn't too disappointed in this book. When your heroine is searching for something/someone, the plot can fall flat in the middle. Too much rumination or too many passive scenes. This one kept moving, but I would have liked more resolution at the end. *SPOILERS* Things I would have liked answered - Why did Sonia sleep with Owen? Did she and Cameron reconcile or did they stay at odds with each other? Did Cameron work through her confusion/doubt/anger about Will? And lastly, did she ever s...more
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I met Sally Kim, this book’s editor, at a writers’ conference a few years ago. She was a delight, and I could tell any writer would be lucky to have her as an editor. I came home from the conference determined to read some of her authors.
I was enthralled as I read this novel, but now I mostly remember its flaws. For example, I wasn’t a fan of what severed the friendship between these young woman (too expected, and I suppose it makes my feminist side bristle a bit), the coincidences, o...more
I was enthralled as I read this novel, but now I mostly remember its flaws. For example, I wasn’t a fan of what severed the friendship between these young woman (too expected, and I suppose it makes my feminist side bristle a bit), the coincidences, o...more
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What I learned from this book is that you can write about women without it all dissolving into bitchiness (not that she doesn't have a good deal of it when describing ancillary characters). She actually creates a few complexities, and even brings up the very valid point that you never know as much as you think you know about someone; you just know what's reflected off of you in your dealings with him or her.
Easy read. Protagnoist nearly flawless in ability to make me believe her. There were ...more
Easy read. Protagnoist nearly flawless in ability to make me believe her. There were ...more
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Some of my favorite lines from this book include:
pg 114: Adult friendship doesn't grant you an exclusive, isn't meant to be ranked above romance and family. I couldn't imagine ever living that moment again, when you say with a shy and hopeful pride, "you're my best friend." The other person says it back and, there you have chosen each other, out of everyone in the world. You have fallen in love and said so."
pg 137: "A happy ending isn't really the end. It's just th...more
pg 114: Adult friendship doesn't grant you an exclusive, isn't meant to be ranked above romance and family. I couldn't imagine ever living that moment again, when you say with a shy and hopeful pride, "you're my best friend." The other person says it back and, there you have chosen each other, out of everyone in the world. You have fallen in love and said so."
pg 137: "A happy ending isn't really the end. It's just th...more
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Read in February, 2008
I must admit, I didn't know how I'd feel about this book after it started. It is about a friendship that starts between two girls and ends in their early 20s, because of a falling apart. I ended up REALLY liking it! I wish I had read it with a book club, because I really wanted to talk about it with someone else. There is immorality, which annoyed me, but there isn't a descriptive/pornographic portrayal of it. It was interesting that the immorality is what caused the ruin of friendship. I ...more
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Read in June, 2008
I have had this one on my shelf for over a year. I just got around to reading it this weekend and I loved it. I think this is one of the most mature expressions of forgiveness and the loss of adolescence that I have found. On that note, people either love it or hate it (see other reviews). Some say that they didn't buy Cameron's character because she seemed flawless. I don't see this at all. In fact, I think that Cameron thinks she is flawless in certain ways but comes to see that she is just as...more
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Read in June, 2008
The first book I read in weeks.
Do you know the feeling when you finish reading a book, and it just makes you want to weep? This is that kind of book. It is so sad, powerful and so beautiful at the same time that I just can't help it.
My favorite parts are the childhood moments of Sonia and Cameron. Both of them are flawed - I wish I can look into Sonia's head, but Cameron is as complicated. Sonia and Will, the main characters, are also very complicated people. Sonia with her dyscalculia a...more
Do you know the feeling when you finish reading a book, and it just makes you want to weep? This is that kind of book. It is so sad, powerful and so beautiful at the same time that I just can't help it.
My favorite parts are the childhood moments of Sonia and Cameron. Both of them are flawed - I wish I can look into Sonia's head, but Cameron is as complicated. Sonia and Will, the main characters, are also very complicated people. Sonia with her dyscalculia a...more
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Read in August, 2008
This book covers so much ground: Friendship, love, loss, betrayal. Relationships with parents, friends, lovers. This story is more like reading a memoir than fiction. At times I would forget that the characters were only about 30yrs old at the time the story was being told. I kept expecting them to be perhaps 50 or even 60...or 70. You know, when it's bittersweet...so much time has passed that they can't get back. But, happily, they were only 30, and so they still had time to heal and to regain ...more
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Read in September, 2007
This book was surprisingly wonderful! I definately reccommend it to those that like beautifully written, emotionally telling stories. It's an introspective work about love, relationships, loss, pain, anger, lonliness, disappointment, happiness, change, identity, and just plain old trying to be a person in this often intense world (Did I forget anything? I'm sure I did!). I don't want to over-hype it, as I went into it with low expectations, which likely lent to my glowing review. I was most impr...more
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Is there an unforgiveable sin? If so, what is it, and if you choose not to forgive a transgression, who is punished more -- the sinner or the victim? In this sensitive portrayal of friendship and loss, Leah Stewart investigates the many facets of friendship, the question of how much you can truly know someone, and how we can never truly protect ourselves from pain, no matter how hard we try.
For the most part, I thought this book was extremely well-written, though the plot was a bit far-fetc...more
For the most part, I thought this book was extremely well-written, though the plot was a bit far-fetc...more
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Read in May, 2006
recommends it for:
anyone who has had a best friend
Here was the secret of this house, the thing it took bravery to face -- that to go on loving someone means to over and over again allow the necessary pain.
Leah Stewart's "The Myth of You and Me" (273)
I was expecting an overly sentimental tale about best friends, but what I got was a beautifully written story of two friends who made choices that changed them forever. As a person who has lost a best friend, this book touched me immensely. I've read the book several times ...more
Leah Stewart's "The Myth of You and Me" (273)
I was expecting an overly sentimental tale about best friends, but what I got was a beautifully written story of two friends who made choices that changed them forever. As a person who has lost a best friend, this book touched me immensely. I've read the book several times ...more
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Read in August, 2008
I really enjoyed this book. I picked it up after reading something a little heavygoing and this was a light relief after that.
It is the story of friendship. Most of us will at some point have a friendship like this and there are lots of moments that made me feel nostalgic for my school days when I would share secrets, gossip, and grow up with my best friend. In The Myth of You and Me, Cameron (the narrator) tells us of her friendship with Sonia through shcool and college and their subsequent...more
It is the story of friendship. Most of us will at some point have a friendship like this and there are lots of moments that made me feel nostalgic for my school days when I would share secrets, gossip, and grow up with my best friend. In The Myth of You and Me, Cameron (the narrator) tells us of her friendship with Sonia through shcool and college and their subsequent...more
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Read in January, 2008
I really enjoyed this book. It is the story of best friends, their relationship and how it changes over the years. The story captures the type of friendship you only really have before reaching adulthood. When friends are inseparable, knowing each other so well words are unnecessary and hours are spent just talking about whatever.
The story of Cameron and Sonia is told from the now almost 30 year old Cameron's view. Through fashbacks we learn how they became friends and the "incident&qu...more
The story of Cameron and Sonia is told from the now almost 30 year old Cameron's view. Through fashbacks we learn how they became friends and the "incident&qu...more
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Read in October, 2007
Tight, serious, real friendship is written about so rarely compared with romantic love, but -- as I probably answer my own question as to why -- this book didn't do it justice. The reason Cameron and Sonia's friendship broke apart was predictable and not very interesting, and I found myself not caring much about what happened with their relationship at the end of the book because, again, it was predictable and not very interesting. The part about Cameron's boss, which actually was a surprise, di...more
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Has a copy to sell/swap
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Read in August, 2007
recommends it for:
anyone who has grown up
I wish this book was around when I was in high school it would have been good to know I wasn't alone in losing a friendship and then wondering what ever happened. The book was a good read in that it was a mystery to discover what was in the package, who was Billie and where was Sonia after Cameron traveled so far to find her if only to satisfy her own curiousity? Sonia was the typical friend leading the friendship she made the rules and Cameron followed pretty much and then Sonia did the dirty...more
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book data (includes all editions)
avg rating (all editions): 3.65 (1015 ratings) avg rating (this edition): 3.63 (997 ratings) number of reviews: 190
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quote
"Here was the secret of this house, the thing it took bravery to face -- that to go on loving someone means to over and over again allow the necessary pain. "
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