November 5, 2007
Harvard law grad Buxbaum makes an appealing debut with this tale of Yale law graduate Emily Haxby, eager to break through the emotional and professional ties that bind her. “It's like you get pleasure out of breaking your own heart,†best friend Jess tells Emily after her bustup with her doctor boyfriend. But Emily isn't through self-destructing; she also implodes over her fast-failing Grandpa Jack, from whom Emily learned “everything... about lifeâ€; chilly relations with her lieutenant governor father, Kirk; and a precarious career as a litigator defending big, evil corporations for a Manhattan law firm. This single-gal-in-the-city finds her white-knuckle hold on life and love slowly slipping as it dawns on her that the opposite of love isn't hate, it's emptiness. Grandpa Jack and his retirement home pal, Ruth, help steer Emily to a soft landing, but the big disappointment is that the resolution is far less interesting than the unraveling that precedes it.
Starred review from March 31, 2008
Ariadne Meyers gives a masterful performance of this realistic novel about Emily, a young woman whose life is unraveling: she breaks up with her longtime boyfriend, hates her job, and her beloved grandfather is dying. Meyers inhabits the role perfectly, conveying all the nuances of Emily's character: her doubt and confusion, anger, love and vulnerability. Meyers especially shines in Emily's monologue to her late mother's tombstone that starts out joking as a defense mechanism, then gets serious and then gradually starts to break down, her voice trembling and full of tears. Meyers also creates distinctive, authentic character voices—the elderly, New York–accented tones of Emily's grandfather and his female friend Ruth; Emily's two closest female friends, including a scene in which one friend is drunk and sobbing; her smug, lecherous boss; a backstabbing co-worker; a Russian diner owner; and a soothing psychologist. She switches seamlessly between the voices during conversations without missing a beat. The abridgment is likewise seamless. This excellent production is a must for chick lit fans. Simultaneous release with the Dial Press hardcover (Reviews, Nov. 5, 2007).