Searching for Their Manic Pixie Dream Girl

Falling Together, by Marisa de los Santos, featured a handful of characters that I really liked, all chasing after a girl I could not have cared less about. As a result, my primary feeling when I finished reading was: “I’ll miss these people, but thank god that’s over”.

“That no matter what happens, loving someone to the best of your ability is the right thing to do. It’s the only thing to do.”

Will, Pen and Cat met in college and instantly became an inseparable trio — until Cat met a boy, and chose to leave Pen and Will behind in order to focus on her relationship. Pen and Will couldn’t figure out how to be friends without Cat (because of the loooove), so they “broke up”, too. Six years later, Pen lives with her brother and her five year old daughter, has a crappy job and no romantic relationships on the horizon. She gets an email from Cat pleading for her to come to their 10-year college reunion. When she (and Will) arrive, it turns out that Cat’s husband sent the email — because Cat has disappeared.

The chase after Cat bored me. Cat comes off as nothing more than a flighty, selfish brat, but Pen, Will, Cat’s husband (Jason) and Pen’s daughter uproot their lives to go find her. What I enjoyed all came from Pen and Will together — I loved the way they communicated, very funny and goofy, and watching them fall in love was wonderful. I also liked how the author slowly redeemed Jason over the course of the novel, mostly by matching him up with Pen’s adorable daughter. But I could have done completely without Cat — they should have just let her go.