If this book were written years from now, it'd be made up of emails, text messages, IMs, and phone conversation transcripts instead of letters and newspaper clippings. It shows how letters have definitely disappeared from our daily life, sad but inevitable perhaps. How will our story be told without old-fashioned written correspondence? Emails just don't have the same grace.
I like the premise of the book, two friends who live cross country, separated by geography but more importantly, class and personal choices, sharing their life stories through honest letters and diary entries.
Lesley got married to her first boyfriend after getting pregnant unexpectedly during high school and had four kids in 10 years with a man poorly equipped with the ability to take care of a family.
Her best friend, Jillian, leads a much different life in New York as a lawyer, her days are filled with legal briefs, not diapers. Yet she is unfilfilled as well, after she has closed herself off to new relationships after her first love died in the Vietnam War.
I didn't identify strongly with either character, but could see how the writer was able to make you emphasize with them by showing how their early decisions impacted their whole lives. This is something we all have to grapple with as we live our own lives -- making a choice and dealing with the consequences.
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