Book Review: The Geography of You and Me by Jennifer E. Smith (@JenESmith)

The Geography of You and Me by Jennifer E. Smith
Publication Date: April 15, 2014
Published: Poppy (Hachette)
Source: Netgalley

My Rating:

Lucy and Owen meet somewhere between the tenth and eleventh floors of a New York City apartment building, on an elevator rendered useless by a citywide blackout. After they're rescued, they spend a single night together, wandering the darkened streets and marveling at the rare appearance of stars above Manhattan. But once the power is restored, so is reality. Lucy soon moves to Edinburgh with her parents, while Owen heads out west with his father.
Lucy and Owen's relationship plays out across the globe as they stay in touch through postcards, occasional e-mails, and -- finally -- a reunion in the city where they first met.
A carefully charted map of a long-distance relationship, Jennifer E. Smith's new novel shows that the center of the world isn't necessarily a place. It can be a person, too.

Before I started Geography of Me and You, I figured this would be a sweet fluffy book about traveling maybe. What I didn't expect was a story about to souls who were brought together to be ripped apart because of circumstance.

First, there is Lucy. Girl living in a big city who loves it and her solitude but longs to go somewhere, anywhere. Then there is Owen, small town boy who hates the city, is mourning the loss of his mother and wants to get as far away as possible. These two are brought together in a stuck elevator during a black out. (This really happened in NYC). After spending a wonderful day and night together despite the circumstances, a bond is formed.

What strikes me as different with this book is just because it is obvious that these two are our main love interests in the story, they spend about 90% of it apart. I found myself frustrated at this realization. But then it became apparent that this was going to work out. Or least that is what I kept telling myself while this emotional roller coaster kept doing loops.

“If you were to draw a map of the two of them, of where they started out and where they would both end up, the lines would be shooting away from each other like magnets spun around on their poles. And it occurred to Owen that there was something deeply flawed about this, that there should be circles or angels or turns, anything that might make it possible for the two lines to meet again. Instead, they were both headed in the exact opposite directions. The map was as good as a door swinging shut. And the geography of the thing- the geography of them- was completely and hopelessly wrong.”

Through the lost art of postcards and letter writing, you catch glimpses of that perfect time they spent together in NYC during the black out, when things seemed to be going in one direction, the right direction.

Being told in dual points of view helped this story because it allowed each character a chance not to be so dependent upon each other for their journey to flourish. I enjoyed the separate parts just as much as the time they were together.

Overall it was a cute story cloaked with a bit of angst that gave it a sense of depth. But I will say regardless of all that, it wasn't a story that sucked me in. Yes, both Lucy and Owen and even the side characters were likeable. There was attention grabbing scenes in both of their individual stories. However, it was very easy to be taken away from reading it even though I always came back.

Until Next Time!