Caretaking and Cooking: Choices of a College Coed

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	• You're Not You: A Novel Michelle Wildgen Picador, 2007 - 288 pages average customer review:based on 35 reviews view larger image
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highly recommended

disappointed

With all the high reviews posted for this book I was disappointed. The author skimmed over some topics which deserved much deeper exploration. the relationships which were meant to be deep I found to be shallow. The ending seems rushed like the author didn't know what to do with the main characters.

Don't Let it End

You're Not You is the kind of book you can't stop reading but at the same time you want it to never end. And when the book ends, you don't want to begin a new one out of respect. It's a book that stays with you long after the last page is turned. It's perhaps the best book I read in 2006. Kudos to Wildgen on an excellent first novel. I can't wait for more.

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Caretaking and Cooking: Choices of a College Coed

This story drew me in at once because of the strong voice and the good writing. It clearly establishes a sense of time and place (modern day Madison, Wisconsin) and offers the "promise" of an intimate look at daily life during the last stages of ALS (Lou Gehrig's Disease) from the perspective of a personal caregiver. While we learn to understand the struggles of the patient, Kate, this is more about the struggles of a college student known as "Bec," as she travels an emotional path of coming into her own. Author, Michelle Wildgen, fulfills the promise.

This story is character-driven, and what made me turn the pages wasn't the story, which was, at times, a bit slow and uninspiring. With the exception of the "blue butterfly," the additional sex scenes felt extraneous. Further, one can guess from the beginning that in terms of Kate's condition, there wouldn't be a `happy' ending. Regardless, Wildgen paints a very realistic picture of ALS, and definitely puts you in the room. What made me turn the pages was Wildgen's ability to make each of her characters come alive. I cared about them and wanted to see how they'd handle Kate's progressive and ultimate demise.

Bec is the narrator who learns as she goes (both how to take care of Kate and how to cook for her guests/staff/family). We see everything through her eyes, particularly as she becomes Kate's voice. The title, "You're Not You," comes from Kate, as she asks Bec to speak for her in a manner beyond mere translation. The secondary characters are also well developed, including Kate's husband, Evan, Bec's roommate, Jill, and to a lesser degree, Bec's lover, Liam. Liam, a married faculty member, represents another dimension of Bec's floundering, and her search to, in a sense, pick a major. Ultimately, the story becomes a vehicle for Bec's eventual direction of career choice.

I recommend as a thought provoking read, and for the strong writing and character development. Additionally, if you know (or have known) someone with ALS, I believe you'll appreciate the author's knowledge and sensitivity.

Michele Cozzens, Author of A Line Between Friends and The Things I Wish I'd Said.

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Some spoilers follow here

The narrator is a female college student who makes an unusual series of choices, emerging from the fog of late adolescent social life into a greater clarity of adulthood, all via her job as caretaker to an unusual woman stricken with ALS, a progressively paralyzing illness. What begins as a summer job to earn good money becomes a complete change in lifestyle and identity. Among other topics, the novel addresses the difficult one of euthanasia, viz., of electing to die rather than live a life of utter dependence on people and machines. Inherent in the plot is the questioning of college as an appropriate waystation for people making the last transition to adulthood. The narrator's choices take her away from the traditional 4-year, liberal arts path onto a culinary one.

The writing is strong and polished. The characters are just a bit thinly drawn, but the situations are so well wrought that it makes up for not quite fully developed characters. A very fine read.

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reviews: 1, 2, 3, page 4, 5, 6, 7

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