The Way Life Should Be
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Read between July 14 - July 15, 2023
2%
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New Guernsey, The Friendliest Town in Maine. Also the only one to send a citizen to the Salem gallows in 1692.
Sarah
Wish it had been a real place and not a made up place.
5%
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Abbie’s new roommates are Pugsley and Wednesday Addams.
Sarah
Which wold be very interesting if they were from the recent Wednesday show.
5%
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racing ahead of the angry storm clouds in the rearview mirror.
Sarah
A Nor'easter has winds from the Northeast so why can he see the clouds in the rearview? (driving north)
5%
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Nestled between Kennebunkport and Ogunquit, New Guernsey
Sarah
Not a real place.
6%
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We think we know our spouses better than they know themselves, because in a way we create them, as if before us they were waiting to be brought to life.
Sarah
interesting thought
12%
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sometimes even after taking a few wrong turns, you can get there from here.
Sarah
appreciate this observation
14%
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The pendulum is swinging now, and the time, just past midnight, is correct. It never worked in their home, but neither one of her parents seemed to care.
Sarah
hmmmm, a metaphor?
15%
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the plow that has crashed into Bex’s Mini Cooper hidden beneath a drift of snow.
Sarah
How in the world did it snow that much in April. It's very unusual.
16%
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Exeter in northern Massachusetts
Sarah
Also not a real place
18%
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Annie pulls into the gym parking lot in Chelmsford,
Sarah
Chelmsford is a real place
19%
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A week after the roads have been cleared and Matt has dropped off the Mini at the Pine Mile Garage for body repairs, he and Thomas take off for the city.
Sarah
They waited a WEEK to check out the loss?
20%
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and the budget for new furnishings: none of this sounds like fun. Renter’s insurance is for pessimists,
Sarah
Always have more insurance than you think you need.
20%
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the repair bill for the Mini and it was approaching $15,000,
Sarah
You have to have car insurance in Massachusetts.
20%
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Nancy is standing on the sidewalk with a push broom, her pinched face frowning as she shovels the debris into the gutter. She picks up a can of Lysol and sprays it into the air.
Sarah
No not how it's done exactly. Call Servicemaster.
21%
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There is nothing to save,
22%
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It’s funny how aging works. You don’t really notice the insidious progression from day to day, the increasing aches and pains, the change in gait, the thinning gray hair, and then it seems as if suddenly, overnight, the voice that used to run nonstop has dried up. We don’t notice what we don’t want to notice, and forget what we don’t want to remember.
Sarah
true. good observation.
25%
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buying fashion from Reny’s.
Sarah
ha ha Reny's (a Maine adventure)
28%
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She holds up her hand and snaps her fingers. “Hashtag dad joke.”
Sarah
snaps? maybe taps fingers in a hashtag formation?
32%
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Matt drew up a floor plan for the second bedroom in a way that would accommodate two sets of bunk beds while they were sitting on a restaurant patio that overlooked the ocean and the Marginal Way.
Sarah
The room would accommodate the bunk beds while the bunk beds were on a patio?
33%
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Annie
Sarah
Abbie and Annie are too close to each other. Someone should have had a different name or a different spelling.
34%
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A summer in Maine with three generations, the way life should be.
Sarah
Well, yes, it is :)
38%
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Thomas could not reconcile his past abusive relationship with religion and his current one with Matt, and so he chose the religion of love over the one of hate.
Sarah
another good observation
43%
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A couple of chickadees delight in a puddle of water in an indentation on top of the utility box, dented by the overzealous eighteen-year-old snowplow operator.
Sarah
How did the snow plow dent the TOP of the utility box.
44%
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They jump up and run across the parking lot. Pops is sprawled out on the floor of his bedroom, a gash on his arm and dried blood on the carpet.
Sarah
wow that blood dried fast
46%
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He knew that he should have brought his gun and so he could shoot the bitch straight through her heart. He continues to back up,
Sarah
Why do we all of a sudden get a glimpse inside what this DJ is thinking?
47%
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Annie parks her car in the middle of the mall parking lot, slightly closer to the main entrance than to the Cheesecake Factory.
Sarah
Burlington Mall maybe?
50%
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“Sorry,” Danny says, touching the waiter’s hand, which sends a tingling thrill through him.
Sarah
Through whom is the tingling thrill going through? and why again with the random POV switch
55%
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He starts walking toward the ocean, not stopping when he hits the frigid water, until he is shoulder deep. They marvel over his ability to withstand the cold New England sea for over an hour.
Sarah
didn't they say the ocean was 85? That's kinda warm for New England.
57%
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Sam considers joking that he is not going insane,
Sarah
Why are we switching POV again?
66%
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“Are you going to lie to me now about how you felt when Conor kissed you?
Sarah
Didn't Thomas kiss Conor?
72%
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Walmart in High Pines
Sarah
Why not name a real town with a Wamart, like Sanford or Biddeford?
76%
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take selfies with him, leaning their heads on his shoulder, one hand on his abs, the other hand on their hips.
Sarah
how are they holding the phone if both hands are strategically placed?
80%
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They park the scooter in the lot
Sarah
Why is it always easy for them to park? on the coast of Maine in Summer?
83%
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“Have you come to get a little peace and quiet far from the madding crowd?”
Sarah
lots of literary references
83%
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Matt is not certain if the line comes from Star Trek or A Tale of Two Cities,
Sarah
It's Thomas Hardy and from neither of these works.
89%
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Abbie doesn’t even fold the clothes, just grabs them from a pile in the closet
Sarah
When did they get a closet?
94%
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A simple change, a well-timed question, and a seemingly cavalier decision are not at all random when they are stitched together with every other facet of your life, producing a tapestry that is too beautiful to behold until death lovingly holds you up high enough to see.
Sarah
This is a good line - the writing is inconsistent, with these great insights and then wobbly characterization, made up towns, etc.
94%
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the way your mother cried when she gave you birth,
Sarah
gave birth to you? She never gave me birth
97%
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the simple pine box has been replaced by a miniature replica of the cottage in Maine,
Sarah
ok that's weird
98%
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When the lifeguard team arrives,
Sarah
Ew - didn't they assault both Abbie and Conor?