by Marisa de los Santos
William Morrow & Company Hardcover
ISBN 9780061670879
352 pages
Release Date: October 1, 2011
Available for purchase
Why did you choose this book? I saw this as a ‘give-away’ and thought it looked like an interesting story.
When did you read this book? October 2011
Who should read this book? readers who enjoy contemporary stories about friendship
Here is a synopsis of ‘Falling Together' from Goodreads, where it rates 3.60 stars.
What would you do if an old friend needed you, but it meant turning your new life upside down? Pen, Will, and Cat met during the first week of their first year of college and struck up a remarkable friendship, one that sustained them and shaped them for years - until it ended abruptly, and they went their separate ways. Now, six years later, Pen is the single mother of a five-year-old girl, living with her older brother in Philadelphia and trying to make peace with the sudden death of her father. Even though she feels deserted by Will and Cat, she has never stopped wanting them back in her life, so when she receives an email from a desperate-sounding Cat asking her to meet her at their upcoming college reunion, Pen goes. What happens there sends past and present colliding and sends Pen and her friends on a journey across the world, a journey that will change everything.
My Review
I found this book on a blog give-away and the premise was interesting. The story is about three friends who met in college and were almost clique-ish to outsiders. Then one day, the friendship fell apart. First Cat left the group and then Will and Pen split. They don’t speak for 6 years, until one day, both Pen and Will receive an email from Cat, asking them to meet her at their college reunion because she ‘needs’ them. Both respond to the request, only to learn that the message was sent by Cat’s husband. They have never liked him and he has never liked them, but they band together to search for Cat.
One thing I should tell you right away; this story is told from alternate points of view. I know some readers don’t care for that style of story-telling. I have to say, this book was a disappointment to me. It may be my fault, because I had such high expectations for it. (You really CAN’T judge a book by it’s cover! Who knew?) I was sure there was a reason the friendship ended so quickly and finally, but we didn’t learn that until about 100 pages into the book. At that point, the book got a little more interesting, but it still didn’t ‘grab’ me. They did eventually find Cat, and Penn and Will did eventually resolve their feelings about their friendship, but I was left wanting something more. The books seemed to be a big build-up towards.....nothing.
I think this story was hurt by having too many sub-stories going on at once, with too many secondary characters. There was the story of Pen’s mother running off to come to terms with her husband’s death, the story of Pen’s ex-lover, with whom she has a daughter, and his wife. I often wondered why they were even in the book, since they didn’t really add a lot to the story, from my point of view. It added a lot to keep track of, and most of those stories had even less resolution than that of the friendship of Cat, Will, and Pen.
If you are a fan of Marisa de los Santos, or just have the book laying around and nothing else to do on a rainy day, by all means read it. It is not a ‘could not finish’ kind of book. But if you have an extensive ‘to-be-read’ pile, you may want to move this one towards the bottom of the stack.
My Rating: ★★+ 2-1/2 Stars
I like your point about the book seeming like a big build up towards nothing.
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