This is actually a short story, published in the book My True Love Gave to Me. It tells the story of Mags and Noel. They are best friends, transitioning between adolescence and adulthood. The story is told over four New Years Eve midnights, where they party in a friend’s basement.
Their meetings are chaotic, and the two circle one another, holding tight to their friendship. They aren’t involved with one another, but they are drawn indelibly to a shared connection. This is the kind of love story Rowell is so skilled at telling that even as a sketch, it feels more deserved and authentic than a lesser writer can manage in 400 pages.
There’s an entire book here I didn’t read, and that is probably unfair to the other writers. But after surveying the feast, I chose to gorge myself on what I knew was delectable – and I have no regrets. To taste the sweetness of her words is to make the world bland and miserable.
Except, no. Reading Rainbow Rowell makes the world warmer and more colorful. She reminds me that I don’t just read to be entertained, but to have my life enriched. I read to be moved, and to be amazed. I read to experience the wonder of a life gifted in words. I read to be immortal.
And, apparently, I review so that I might wax poetic about Rainbow Rowell. But I do so unapologetically.