Expiration Dates

Title:  Expiration Dates

Author:  Rebecca Serle

Publication Information:  Atria Books. 2024. 272 pages.

ISBN:  1982166827 / 978-1982166823

Rating:   ★★★

Book Source:  I received this book through NetGalley free of cost in exchange for an honest review.

Opening Sentence:  "The paper is blank save for the name: Jake."

Favorite Quote:  "Life is a catch-22 ... That's why God invented female friendship."

Relationships can be hard. Relationship take work. Relationships are full of uncertainty. I think this is something most people would agree on. So many people make a commitment and invest in a relationship for a lifetime. However, what if at the very start of a relationship, you knew exactly to the year, month, and day how long it was going to last? Would you invest as much? Would you work and try as hard? Would that knowledge add a certainty to the relationship or would it simply create a self-fulfilling prophecy?

These are the questions at the heart of this story. Every relationship Daphne Bell has ever had has come with an expiration date. When she meets a new man, she mysteriously also gets a slip of paper with the man's name and the amount of time the relationship will last. With that knowledge, Daphne never lets herself fully invest in the relationship because she knows a breakup is coming. "If you never stop long enough to sink into something, then it can't destroy you. It's easier to climb out of a pool than a well, is the thing." Again, the question arises. Is the knowledge the certainty or does belief in the knowledge create the inevitability of the breakup? Is the conclusion predetermined or does Daphne's belief and ensuing actions create the conclusion?

Then, along comes Jake. For Jake, Daphne receives the paper, but, this time, the paper has just a name with no timeframe. Does that mean forever or a lifetime or something else? For the first time in her life, Daphne approaches a relationship with no known end in sight. Again, the question arises. Does the lack of a date mean forever or does Daphne allow for and create the potential because she believes it to be possible?

The book is partly a sweet love story. If you choose to believe, the book is about the magic of the slips of papers. The book, of course, is about relationships - both long and short ones - and their potential to change the direction of our lives. However, more so, the book leaves me thinking about how much of life is predestined versus how much is driven by our choices; and how much our choices are influenced by our beliefs about ourselves and about the world around us.

If you had the choice, would you want to know the ending? For my life, I would not. I choose to be present now.

Please share your thoughts and leave a comment. I would love to "talk" to you.

After Annie

Title:  After Annie

Author:  Anna Quindlen

Publication Information:  Random House. 2024. 304 pages.

ISBN:  0593229800 / 978-0593229804

Rating:   ★★★★

Book Source:  I received this book through NetGalley free of cost in exchange for an honest review.

Opening Sentence:  "Annie Brown died right before dinner."

Favorite Quote:  "You need to let them know that sadness shouldn't lead to silence. You need to find a way to do that every day."

This book grapples with the incredible challenge of dealing with the death of a loved one. It deals with the even bigger challenge when that death is sudden and unexpected. Not that you ever expect death. Not even when everything indicates death is coming are you ever actually prepared for the finality of it.

Annie Brown is the glue that holds her family and her friends together. Her husband, her children, and her best friend all rely on her. Then, one day, Annie suddenly dies of a brain aneurysm. There are, of course, the logistics to deal with - the hospital, the funeral, the condolences, and more. There is also life to deal with because life goes on. Days rise and end. School, meals, jobs, and the myriad details of day to day life. Within the logistics of it all is the emotion and the grief.

Annie's husband Bill is lost and overwhelmed. Annie's children are thrust out of their childhood in dealing with things no child should have to deal with. Some of the burden of care falls to the oldest Ali as she tries to step into the caretaker role for her younger siblings and, to some extent, her father. Annemarie, who loses her best friend, deals with anchoring herself and caring for herself in the way that Annie did while trying simultaneously to care for Annie's family.

The story travels through the year after Annie's death - a year of firsts - and the emergence of life ... after Annie. The story is one of grief and its power to change us. It is a story of grief as it traverses memories of a lifetime through the different narrators of the story. This is, however, also a story of hope and of the potential for joy even after such an unfathomable loss.

As with other Anna Quindlen books, this book brings to life ordinary people - people readers can relate to - in a situation that all us hope to never have to face. Also like the author's other books, this story is slow and quiet. It starts with a shocking event but then quietly weaves its way through grief. In a way, that slow pace works for this story for grief lasts a lifetime with steps forward and backwards. In this, the book rings true. This is a story that resonates and lingers in its voice longer after I finish the book.

Please share your thoughts and leave a comment. I would love to "talk" to you.