Context:
Isabelle is running from her imploding marriage when she crashes her car into a woman who is running away as well. Isabelle must come to terms with what the accident does to her life, and simultaneously becomes entangled with the lives of the surviving husband and son.
My Thoughts:
At first, I didn't really care for this novel. I honestly felt like I was reading a cheesy country song (no offense, country music--I grew up on you and I love you dearly) for a little while. And the characters were infuriating. Maybe it wouldn't have been so maddening if the novel wasn't third person omniscient. At any rate, it's annoying to me that Charlie knows that April is a free spirit, acknowledges that she acts flighty and disconnected and likes to take random road trips, and then gets all confused when he doesn't keep the romantic spark alive and smothers her with suburban American life and she runs away. Well, duh.
I also felt really frustrated with the way things turned out. See, I'm a bit picky and weird and don't make a lot of sense. I really enjoy endings that break free from the norms (as in, not everything is a happy ending), but I still want the happy lovey romance stuff to work out in the end. So on the one hand, I'm happy that it was more realistic and it wasn't like "And Isabelle and Charlie lived happily ever after!" But it was also so obvious that Charlie and Isabelle always loved each other and that they settled with the people they ended up with. Excuses about Sam be damned, they could have made their way back to each other at some point. Or Charlie could have, you know, not been an ass and tried the whole long distance thing until Sam was stronger.
I don't know, I guess this is why I don't read romantic dramas a lot. I realize the novel is realistic in many aspects, and I do appreciate that, but I also craved something more for Isabelle and Charlie. I tried to be understanding of Isabelle's paranoia and clinginess, and of Charlie's wishy-washy, one foot in one foot out crap, but I just wanted to slap both of them.
Oh, and the final reveal about April--equal parts surprising and unsurprising. Like on the one hand, we already knew she wasn't planning on taking Sam with her, but to really know for sure that she was planning on leaving her family behind...yeah April was established as impulsive and flaky but to abandon your kid? Seriously lady? Getting the story from Bill was a nice surprise, and much needed closure.
I did enjoy getting a POV from Sam, and it was really great when he finally realized his mother was really, truly dead. Such an emotional scene. I also enjoyed that the closing chapter of the novel was from an adult Sam's POV. I'm glad he got closure with Isabelle.
Some of the themes were slap you in the face obvious, but the author has a really great style of writing, so despite the fact that I could see right through most of the metaphors, illusions, and themes, it didn't bother me too much because her beautiful writing eased me through it.
My Rating: 3/5
A surprising read that takes a while to warm up to, Pictures of You explores some interesting themes and offers a creative, interesting story that actually feels fresh. If you're not a fan of romantic dramas, it may be hard to believe in the story, but the author's well-written characters and beautiful dialogue help ease the process along so that it doesn't feel like a Fabio-emblazoned stereotype.
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