I'm Glad About You

by Theresa Rebeck

Crazy, Stupid, Love meets Notting Hill. About an actress making it big and the complicated relationship she has with the guy she met as a teenager. You ll read it in two days The Skimm
Their meeting in a parking lot outside a high school football game was both completely forgettable and utterly life-changing. Because no matter how you look at it, it is piss-poor luck to meet the love of your life before your life has even started. Fierce and ambitious, Alison transforms into a rising TV star in New York City while her first love, Kyle, all heart and spiritual yearning, becomes a pediatrician in suburban Cincinnati, married to the wrong woman. What could these mismatched souls have to do with each other? Everything and nothing. Even as their fates rocket them forward and apart, neither can fully let go of the past.
As their lives inevitably intersect, Alison and Kyle must face each other in the revealing light of their decisions. I m Glad About You is a glittering study of how far the compromises two people make will take them from the lives they were meant to live.

From the Hardcover edition."

Genres: Fiction, Chick Lit, Romance, Contemporary, Adult Fiction, Adult, Womens Fiction

400 pages, Paperback

First published March 1, 2016

About the author

Theresa Rebeck is a playwright. She also works as a television writer. Her input went into popular shows such as Dream On, Brooklyn Bridge, L.A. Law, American Dreamer, Maximum Bob, First Wave, and Third Watch.
She also wrote and produced Canterbury’s Law, Smith, Law and Order: Criminal Intent and NYPD Blue.
Ms. Rebeck has an MFA in Playwrighting and a PhD. in Victorian Melodrama, from Brandeis University. She is a board member of the Dramatists Guild and has taught at Brandeis and Columbia Universities.
She currently resides in Brooklyn with her husband Jess Lynn and two children, Cooper and Cleo.

Reviews

[Megan · Rating 5 out of 5]

Be careful what you wish for or you just might get it. We've all heard the saying before, but what might happen if that really was the way things worked? Theresa Rebeck's newest hit, 'I'm Glad About You,' takes a look at just that. Alison longs to be an actress, always wanting to be bigger and better than she is. After moving to New York from nowhere-ville MidWest, she finds that being a success isn't as easy as just wanting it. Kyle on the other hand, Alison's ex boyfriend whom she never quite has moved on from, wants to be a good pediatrician and an even better catholic. Both of their lives seem to be living up to what they had dreamed, with one exception - they can't seem to get over one another. And while Kyle finds himself married to someone else, Alison is free to discover just the sort of person she wants to be with.



This book is more than just about high school sweethearts, it's about learned that what you wish for isn't always what you really want. It's about figuring out who you are as you change and develop. Bad choices will be made, but they will be made up for. Good choices will be made as well, and sometimes they'll pay off and other times you'll be left disappointed.

That's life, and perhaps the best thing about the book is how humanly these things are portrayed.



I truly enjoyed this book. It was a very "easy read" which I found refreshing, but it wasn't so elementary that I found it at all boring. In fact, I had a hard time putting it down! Theresa Rebeck is well known as the creator of the hit show 'SMASH,' and this book is just as fast-paced and fun! My biggest complaint is truly that I wanted it to keep going. I felt like I had really grown to know and love these characters so much that I simply wasn't ready to let them go.

All in all, that's a clear sign of a fantastic book!

I happily give this book 5 stars not just because I loved it myself, but also because I think there's something in there for everyone. Even if you're neither a movie star nor a doctor, these characters are so relatable that you'll feel as though you could invite them over for dinner this weekend with no issue. The cover is also brilliant - on a shelf, it will be one that will always draw your eye and I actually enjoyed the idea of people seeing me reading it while out in public (I know, I'm weird like that.)



If you're someone looking for the PERFECT beach read, or you long for characters that you feel are your friends, give this one a shot. It's one that I will personally be sharing with friends as a book I highly recommend.

I was provided with a free copy of this book in order to conduct this review.

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[Sandra · Rating 2 out of 5]

This book combined self-absorbed characters whose passivity became extremely annoying with a meandering plot that went nowhere. The first half of the book held some promise, but that was dashed when the remainder had me just wishing something interesting, and/or positive would happen.

ARC received from NetGalley.

[Cheryl · Rating 1 out of 5]

TheSkimm....you let me down on this recommendation. Reading this book was like eating cheap chocolate. You know you shouldn't, but you do anyway and feel sick in the end from the bad chocolate. What a waste of time.

[Joelene Weeks · Rating 3 out of 5]

I struggled with what rating to give this book, if I could I'd give it 2.5 stars. lowest rating I've given a book in a very long time. it started off great, hooked me from the start. Kyle and Allison were easy enough to identify with and relate to in the beginning. however, this is one of the most redundant books I've ever read. in the dialogue someone was always using an annoyed tone, then every other thought or action was a "betrayal" for one reason or another. Allison and Kyle were increasingly whiny about everything, with Allison constantly thinking about how smart she was and how many people were treating her like a moron at any given time and her looks (how thin she was and did u know her eyes are a beautiful green) and how "Midwestern" she was with her manners and morals and values, even tho she's a thief and basically a whore. then Kyle was whining and complaining about his job, his family, Allison, his religion, etc. that's basically the sum of the story, a lot of repetitive whining with no real action. seriously disappointing after such a promising start.

[disco · Rating 2 out of 5]

This had potential. I was enjoying the history and relationship between the two main characters, Allison and Kyle, at first. Then it started to turn into a lot of privileged people with non problems. I couldn't get on board with Kyle's misogynist attitude, and the way he forced his wife to stay married to him was horrifying. The book also couldn't stop referring to Allison's perfect beauty, amazing intelligence, grace, talents, and not to mention how amazing she was in the sack. The ending was disappointing and it gave no closure for anyone.

[Book Riot Community]

A funny story of two people meant to be together...not being together. If you meet your soulmate in high school, do you compromise your dreams to be with that person? If you're Alison, you don't. Alison is determined to become an actress in New York City. Kyle is happy living in Ohio as a pediatrician. But neither one of their lives works out the way they planned, and we, the readers, get to sit back and watch as their lives inevitably cross paths again. I'm Glad About You is charming and sweet.


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[Charlotte Lynn · Rating 3 out of 5]

I’m Glad About You is an okay book. I wanted to love it, to be so enthralled I couldn’t put it down, but that didn’t happen. There should have been that moment where I went awe, yea, I was waiting for this. I was waiting and waiting and waiting and it just didn’t come. The characters were decent, the potential for greatness was there. Theresa Rebeck has a great idea it just didn’t come through the way I wanted it to.

Allison and Kyle were characters that some will like. I felt like they were living secret lives. They wanted each other, they circled around each other, and they acted like children to each other. It was not a good friendship, relationship, or way to live your life. Both characters regretted choices, as most people do, made in the past and went on to live unfulfilling lives. I do believe that the characters learned a lot about themselves and had personal growth, but it just wasn’t enough.

The story could have gone a few ways. I don’t think there was a good ending. There was no closure for either characters and they both needed it as did I as the reader.

As with any story that I didn’t love, I believe there are people who will rave and love this book. Everyone is entitled to their opinions and this is mine. I hope that there are many more opinions given about this book that are more favorable. Every reader has their own taste and favorites. Every book has readers that love it and some that don’t. Please give this book a chance and check it out. Make your own opinions.

[Rachel Rood · Rating 1 out of 5]

Yuck. What an awful book. I wanted something light and fun, romantic. But this was just bad writing the whole way through. Stereotypical, mary-sue characters and just not funny or engaging in any way. I barely skimmed the last half. Just bad.

[Frances Dowell · Rating 3 out of 5]

After reading the many negative reviews of I'm Glad About You, I find myself wanting to defend it. Which is weird, since I can't see myself actually recommending it. I've seen it called a beach read, but that's not quite right. It's too realistic for what most of us want from a beach reach (although I actually read it at the beach--go figure) and at times I found it a slog. Maybe I'd recommend this for young actresses who think they'd love to make it big. I'm Glad About You should disabuse them of this notion.

Many have written of the story's main characters, Allison and Kyle, as unlikeable, but I didn't find them so. I thought they were interesting and complicated, and I found Allison charming. Okay, Kyle is a bit of a pill at the story's beginning, which is to say he's unhappy and living a life that's at odds with the life he dreamed for himself. Instead of being a Doctors without Borders sort of doctor, he's a pediatrician at a large suburban practice. He is a serious Catholic with serious ideas. And he doesn't seem to be over his high school sweetheart, Allison, although he's married to the beautiful domestic goddess (and really unpleasant human being), Van.

When we first meet Allison, she's a struggling actress in New York, hoping for a life of art in the theatre. What she gets instead is a role on a bad TV show that launches her into stardom--or at least rising starlet-dom. While in many ways she stays true to her humble midwestern roots (she and Kyle are from Cincinatti, where Kyle still lives), she's willing to trade sexual favors to get ahead in a business she keeps wondering if she wants to get ahead in.

Allison and Kyle's stories for the most part run on parallel tracks, though occasionally they intersect when Allison comes back home for holidays or to run away from her new life. What pulls you through the novel in part is the question of whether or not they'll get back together. Clearly the attraction between the two of them is still strong. I won't spoil it for you, though I will say that by the novel's end you may not care.

Not so much because you don't care about the characters. I did, and Kyle grew on me over the course of the story. Part of the problem is the bulk of the story is Allison's, and almost everyone in Allison's story (other than Allison) is unlikeable and amoral. There's a lot of ugliness that I thought Allison tolerated for far too long, although I see how she's convinced herself she's just doing what everyone does to get ahead in show business. After awhile I found the Hollywood stuff tedious, and I wished there had been more back and forth between the two narratives, more balance between the stories.

Come to think of it, everyone in Kyle's story is also unlikeable. So that's a problem. But I did grow more and more interested in Kyle and felt like he developed as a character as the story went along. You see how important living a moral life is to him, and how his sense of what that entails deepens and becomes more complex over the course of the book. Readers might feel frustrated by Kyle's choices, but I found them true to who he is and wants to be.

The writing is good, and the story's ending, while sure to be unsatisfying to those who like things wrapped up neatly with a bow and a smiley face sticker, struck me as realistic and interesting. So while I wouldn't exactly recommend I'm Glad About You, there are certainly things in this novel to recommend it.

[Amy · Rating 2 out of 5]

Recommended on The Skimm. Annoying characters, meh story

[Laura · Rating 2 out of 5]

I was incredibly disappointed in this book. It was not Crazy Rich Asians nor was it a mix of Nottinghill and any other book. The characters were as disappointing as their lives. It was really just depressing. I found nothing comedic about it at all. But, perhaps the author intended you to feel disappointed and depressed when you were done. If that is the case, then she succeeded.

[Ella Herr · Rating 1 out of 5]

The ending absolutely ruined this book for me. It literally felt like the author realized she only had 2 more pages and slapped something together. Someone please read this book so I can complain about it to you. Also everyone is just so fucked up it’s depressing.

[Kev Willoughby · Rating 3 out of 5]

A tale of star-crossed lovers who never seem to be able to get on the same page at the same time.

As a reader, it's frustrating to read a book like this. You keep thinking that if you stick with the story, eventually, things will turn out okay for the protagonists. However, sometimes, it's just not in the cards, and in that sense, the book is true to life, but when you're reading fiction, you always hope for a better outcome than "true to life."

In this story, a couple of teenagers meet and fall in love as they are growing up in Cincinnati. He wanted to be a doctor in third-world countries. She wanted to be a famous actress. Although they are passionate about each other, with opposite dreams, it was never going to be easy. After dating for years, they eventually dismissed each other for their dreams. She found hers, and he settled for less. But they both gave up on each other and they ended up miserable and lonely, looking in the rear-view mirror for the rest of their lives. To make things worse, they had a mutual friend who was a creep and a sleazeball, and he did nothing but make the situation worse for all involved.

Some of their inabilities to communicate and be assertive about what they each really wanted was maddening to read. Yet, much of the same inabilities to communicate and be assertive are prevalent on a daily basis in our own lives... but I don't want to read about it.

[Joanne · Rating 2 out of 5]

This book made no sense to me. Ostensibly about two people who never stop loving each other, it just bounced around senselessly. There was so much emphasis on Kyle's devotion to his Catholicism that at times I felt like I'd stumbled into a religious tract, and it was ridiculously unrealistic to boot. Then there was Alison, who never became a fully-formed character for me. There was constant mention of how intelligent she was, how ambitious, yet she did everything stupid and made a mess of her life. It just didn't come together at all. Worst of all, there wasn't a single character, major or minor, in the entire book that I gave one hoot about. Even the title was lame: borrowed apparently from the Navajo, with which no character had any ties whatsoever.

[Naberius · Rating 2 out of 5]

I wanted to like this book more than I actually did. I think the idea is interesting, where you have two characters who go separate ways and then come together from time to time. You see their lives independently, and then see them intersect, and what influence that has on the next part of their lives. However, I guess I just didn't really like the characters. I found Alison got on my nerves (for example, she moves to New York and has no idea how expensive everything is. She takes a job and then quits with no backup plan. Personally, she grated on me). I also didn't like Kyle too much. He marries a woman (who also is not likable) seemingly on a whim, and then doesn't seem at all invested in his marriage or his relationship with his children. Neither of the main characters seem to be very happy, but don't seem to take steps to change this, either.

Was I glad I read this book? Meh.

[Brittany Henderson · Rating 5 out of 5]

I adored this book. These dysfunctional characters wormed their way into my heart. While I'm a sucker for love stories I find these almost 'anti-love' stories interesting.
I can't say what I loved so much about this book but the pacing was perfect and I really liked the style. The writing was direct but also with a little flare that kept me captivated.
I loved the characters. They were a mess but they were real.

[Darren · Rating 2 out of 5]

Meh and a rare DNF. Uneven from the start, like much of Rebeck's theatrical work. The principal characters felt constructed from a stack of cliches. I spent about 200 pages trying to care and then gave up.

[Jess White · Rating 1 out of 5]

Just don't waste your time as you will not care about any of the meaningless characters or storylines in this book. There is so much disconnect here, Alison is a disaster on every level. I was annoyed the entire book.

[Liz Fichera · Rating 5 out of 5]

Yowza. Devoured. It was a bit like watching reality television--and yet I could not put it down.

[Rachel]

My personal "star" rating system:

1 star: Could not finish the book
2 star: Had to force myself to finish the book, did not care for the book, and will not be seeking out this author in the future
3 star: Liked the book, but will not necessarily be seeking out this author in the future
4 star: Really liked the book and would read more of this author, but will not be re-reading this particular book again
5 star: Loved it so much that I will re-read this book in the future, and the author is going onto my list for pre-orders of their future titles

My rating: 2 stars

This book was so utterly depressing. All of the characters were very melodramatic, and nobody was happy, even when good things were happening in their lives. I don't understand how they could like themselves, much less each other. It's been about a month since I finished this book, and other than the general feeling of being depressed while reading it (I mean, literally, NOTHING is happy in this book), I couldn't even tell you the plot of the story. I was really excited for this one, and preordered it when it came out, but sadly, it just wasn't for me.

[Kirsten · Rating 4 out of 5]

This was good. Like, really good. Moved at a fast clip, had interesting character development, and was written in a highly-engaging conversational style. At no point was I bored, and at no point did I wish for things to move along quicker. From beginning to end, I just sincerely enjoyed reading this one.

I was not as satisfied with the ending as I would have like, just because nothing really got...resolved? It's similar to One Day in that sense (although One Day does have a significant hit of drama close to the end), but really this is just a chronicle of 2 people who loved each other and then decided not to. A caricature of a relationship, sure, but much more realistic than your typical romance novel.

(Reading this back, I don't sound that enthusiastic. Let me try to end this on a highly positive tone.)

Honestly, this was a joy to pick up every time! Great read! Exclamation points!

[Emma · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book is not happy, funny, or about true love. It's about two people (Alison and Kyle), and how the toxicity of their obsession with each other affects their lives, and the lives of those around them. Every character has flaws, some more nasty than others. It is an interesting read, but you have to be able to handle unlikable and self-absorbed characters.

[Bella · Rating 3 out of 5]

i was quite invested in the story line, but i hoped things would have turned out different considering everything they both went through. i didn’t like that it was so easy for her to hate on him for being catholic and for him to hate on her for her hobbies/job. so maybe it’s good that they didn’t end up working out? but why give so much false hope that it would? #playingwithmyfeelings

[Susan]

It would have been less waste of time and trees to just print up a pamphlet that says "I'm from the Midwest" which by the way, no one from the Midwest says that's where they're from. Dreck, not only cliched but contradicts itself.

[Isabel Hughes · Rating 3 out of 5]

Ugh not me romanticizing Cincinnati while living in San Francisco. But also nyc, which who hasn’t dreamt of living there? This was a lighthearted book but it did take me a while to get through. Sweet story, frustrating at times.

[Kristy · Rating 1 out of 5]

Boring Trash - only got through a few CD's worth.

[Emma Kielsa Kugel · Rating 1 out of 5]

I was mostly rooting for Van.

[Becky · Rating 2 out of 5]

They may be “glad about you” but I’m definitely not glad about reading this book.
I finished this book because I was SURE the sheer amount of detail and lengthy build up would EVENTUALLY pay off for the plot. I’m sad to report this did not happen.

[Amanda · Rating 1 out of 5]

What the heck was the point of this book? Isn't some kind of resolution considered important anymore? Are the last five chapters missing? Did the author die before completing this book? Did she run out of time or interest and say screw it, im bored with this. I'm going to the mall?
There were many plot lines in this book and not a single one of them had a resolution. Most characters made stupid decisions, some even made destructive choices with malicious intent. No one suffered any consequences. Even Van, the asshole wife of stupid Kyle, got to cheat, get pregnant by another man AND withhold an important message and had no comeuppance.
The best I can say is the main characters were unlikeable but in a relatable way and it wasn't badly written. However reading it was a colossal waste of time. Don't do it!

[Jen · Rating 2 out of 5]

I'm so disappointed that this was compared to Beautiful Ruins. This story has been done, and done so much better. There are potential new twists here but they were not well executed. Didn't really ever care for the characters either.