Falling Together

I have a new "Among My Favorites" authors, and it is Marisa de los Santos! Falling Together is a multi-layered story of love, loss and friendship that had me hooked from the first chapter, and the ending was anything but a foregone conclusion...guess one could say that about the middle of it too!!

Three college freshmen meet the first week of school and wind up forging deep friendships that seem destined to last forever. But shortly after graduation they separate, with adamant declarations that they will not reconnect. Complete separation is infinitely better than shifting to occasional and shallow contact from separate parts of the country, at least according to Cat Ocampo.

Six years later two of the three, Pen Calloway and Will show more Wadsworth, received a terse email from Cat, the third member of their circle of friendship. "I need you," was all she had to say, but she added, "I'm sorry for everything." Pen and Will return separately to the reunion, longing to renew their friendships, but not knowing how the others would respond.

Pen is now a single mother of a 5 year old, living with her older brother, and working peripherally in the book industry but there is not much question about whether she will go to the reunion. Will is single and making a living as a children's author, and like Pen, is assaulted with memories of the friendship and the final parting. He knows he will go as well.

It is a most unusual reunion, and in almost no time at all Pen is on her way around the world, along with her child and her friends, to solve a mystery and find a friend who sorely needs them. Along the way, the author fills in the back story of her exquisitely drawn characters. Flawed but charming people, even the obnoxious ones are redeemable in the author's capable hands.

I highly recommend a good story, a sweet romance, and a tribute to the power of family and the importance of forgiveness, all wrapped up in one un-put-downable book! Check it out! show less

This book is built upon a theme I generally eschew for being too predictable: friends getting together at a school reunion after not having seen each other for (in this case) six years, and then evincing fairly foreseeable reactions to one another. [On the other hand, I love the movie "Romy And Michele's High School Reunion," but (a) it's a satire; and (b) who can resist the combination of Mira Sorvino, Lisa Kudrow and Janeane Garofalo?] Marisa de los Santos is also someone it is hard to resist: she is a writer who excels in chronicling changes over the course of relationships. Nevertheless, even while I love her writing, I didn’t love this book as much as her previous two.

Pen (Penelope), Cat (Catalina) and Will (William) had met the show more first week of their first year at college, and became immediate soul mates. But after years of constant and close companionship, something happened to cause them not to see or contact each other since. Suddenly, Pen gets an email from Cat asking to meet her at their ten-year reunion, saying she needs her. Pen can't resist going; she has never stopped caring for her friends, and her life has been at loose ends ever since they parted.

Pen is now a single mom, living with her daughter Augusta at her older brother Jamie’s house. Jamie agrees to watch Augusta, and Pen goes off to the reunion meet her fate, for she knows that’s what it will be.

Discussion: I’m not so sure if making enigmatic much of what happened among the three friends was a useful plot device for de los Santos; I didn’t see any of the withheld information as significant enough to merit the mystery treatment. Rather, it seemed to me like a recipe for disappointment, because she was setting us up as if for something big that turned out to be rather mundane.

On the positive side, de los Santos's writing is always a treat. The dialogue is clever and snappy (although sometimes so much so that the reader may be forgiven for suspecting that Pen, Cat, and Will traveled around with homunculi scriptwriters hidden in their pockets). The descriptive prose as well is vibrant and evocative, like this passage revealing Pen’s reaction to Augusta’s shimmery go-go girl outfit when Pen picks her up from a weekend with Augusta’s father:

"Pen could imagine her before-kids self being utterly disapproving of this, the little girl in makeup and grown-up clothes thing, the pre-pre-pre-tween fascination with fabulousness. But seeing it in action, she found it didn’t bother her. Little girls were magpies and butterflies, gaga for everything shiny, in sheer, giggly, joyful love with transformation. Pen looked at Augusta, so at home in her body, so convinced of her own gorgeousness. Keep it up, honey, she thought. Hang on to it with both hands.”

Evaluation: As you may perhaps agree after reading that passage quoted above, it's hard not to love Marisa de los Santos, even in her less stellar efforts. show less

I just finished reading Falling Together by Marisa de los Santos. This, to me, was one of those books I just did not want to end. I want to know what happens in the characters’ lives going forward. I want to be their friend; to be entwined in their lives.

This is the story of Will, Pen, and Cat and the friendship they formed early in their college days. They were the Three Musketeers; the St. Elmo’s Fire friends, whose friendship essentially went separate ways until several years after their graduation. Cat has disappeared, and Will and Pen reunite in order to find her and solve the mystery of her life since their split. Pen is heartsick over the death of her father; Will is stoic over the loss (but not to death) of his own father; show more Cat’s mystery surrounds the death of her father. The path of discovery is through each other.

The tale is told mostly from Pen’s point-of-view, but occasionally shifts to third person Will. Cat’s story is told from their memories of her. I found the characters well rounded and well developed, and their relationships to each other folded almost agonizingly slowly – I wanted to skip ahead to satisfy my curiosity! Their backstories unwind and fill in the blanks, leaving the reader to see that even book characters do have flaws in their personalities, and the road to love is not always paved with gold or is always smooth sailing. Although filled with much banter and humorous moments, to me, the best part was the prose and moments of self-discovery Pen experienced.[b:Falling Together|10380686|Falling Together|Marisa de los Santos|https://d.gr-assets.com/books/1327949843s/10380686.jpg|15284208] show less

Wonderful. I am such a fan of this author. Lots for a book club to discuss - but maybe not, in a way. That is to say, while reading I kept wondering is that the right choice to make?" and "would I do that?" and "do I still like that character?" but by the end I realized that the author really knows people, especially her characters, and everything they do (even when they frustrate or disappoint me) is exactly right for them.

There are a couple of interesting things I can't say w/out spoilers, but I have to hide them because this is, in a way, a mystery, and I do want you to read the book. So, no peeking yet! I almost want to visit the Philippines now, and will definitely make Philippine-style empanadas very soon. The descriptions of show more jeepneys, Chocolate Hills, snorkeling, etc. also sound intriguing. I thought, all along, that Cat somehow arranged the drama to provoke Will and Pen to get together. I was disappointed to learn that she really is so self-centered, and so chicken-shit, that she didn't care enough to talk to anybody before she tried to disappear. The love they all still have for her is a kind of love I, personally, cannot understand. It seems to me that, since Sam is right and they did baby her, that they do not really know her. After all, they did only know college girl her, not grown-up her - so what they love is a memory of a part of her. Elsewhere Pen unquestionably claims that ppl don't fall out of love, but rather realize they didn't love in the first place.

There are some interesting theories about love in this book. Other ppl besides the MCs are dealing with romantic love, also there's friendship, and parental love, and love for a parent that is or is not conditional on the parent being sane/ non-abusive / present.... I'm not sure *I* feel simpatico with all them, but I sure do appreciate the author & characters giving me different perspectives to mull over:

"`What will I do if she leaves me?'
The answer was so clear, so obvious that [she] had to fight to keep the impatience out of her voice.
`You'll love someone else.`"

Also, there's beautiful writing, including just some great lines:

"[He] shut his eyes, overcome by nostalgia for the days when a phone receiver was substantial enough to effectively bang across your forehead."

A mother doesn't like to swear, so she and her children say "gives a nit" and "shut the cluck up."

And literary references. Unlike some pretentious, *L*iterary authors, who just drop in allusions w/out context or clue, as if they believe a reader who doesn't catch it isn't worthy, de los Santos gives us enough help we can remember our schooling, or look it up. Speaking of someone who knew her career path from the time she was tiny: "When has Tully *not* been in law school?... It's like Mephistopheles and hell. Wherever Tully is is law school."

I do recommend this, and I could see myself rereading it - it's that rich." show less

I enjoy Marisa de los Santos' writing and this book was no exception. She has a flair for description that is just enough without overwhelming the reader. The characters in this story are believable (which is a big thing for me) and I felt like I wanted to be best friends with all of them. The underlying plot kept the book moving at a good pace and allowed the characters to fully develop on their own as well as together. The ending for 2 of the 3 characters was somewhat predictable, but not in an eye-rolling way which proves the talent of the author. Highly recommend.

Pen, Cat and Will all met in college and almost instantaneously became best friends. But, then, their friendship fell apart. Now, six years later, both Will and Pen receive a mysterious email from Cat asking them to come to their tenth year college reunion because she “needs” them. Anxious, but eager to see Cat, they make the trip. Within moments of reuniting, Pen and Will resume their old friendship filled with warmth and conversation and something else which neither of them have yet acknowledged. But Cat is not at the reunion and instead her childish, somewhat hostile husband, Jason, confronts the two friends. Before they know it, both Pen and Will (with Jason in tow) find themselves on a search for their old friend, uncovering show more secrets, and discovering who they have become in the years between college and now.

Marisa de los Santos creates characters that are warm, flawed, and oh so real. It is one reason why I have loved her books. Falling Together is no exception. Pen, still reeling from her father’s death and raising her daughter alone, holds onto the fantasy that she, Will and Cat will be able to recapture their old friendships. Will, now a children’s author, regrets having left Pen behind all those years ago. And Cat, perhaps the most mysterious of the characters, has plunged ahead with her life and found independence.

The writing in this novel is witty and vivid. de los Santos was educated as a poet, and her prose often resonates with lyricism and beautiful description.

The themes of friendship, love, and human connection are strong in the novel. Those readers who enjoyed the character interactions in de los Santos’s previous novels, will not be disappointed with the unspooling relationships in Falling Together. I found myself caught up in the lives of Pen and Will, Jason and Cat – I wanted to see them find happiness and friendship. I really did not want to see their stories end.

Marisa de los Santos has written a book full of heart and joy, and also laughter.

Recommended to those readers who have enjoyed this author’s previous books, and for readers who love women’s fiction. show less

Normally I steer away from "friendship stories", the kind where old friends in a) college b) growing up c) a book club find themselves in some situation that an author is inspired to write about. I find them confusing and contrived, and for the most part, very irritating, trying to keep the characters straight and who love/hates/yearns for/inspires who. But this story of college friends, starkly separated, but rejoining around a reunion had only three main characters, and two of them were very interesting to me, so I persisted.

I'm glad I did. Though there were some choppy moments in the story, trying to place certain ancillary characters, or when my brain didn't switch gears from character to character fast enough, there were some show more delicious moments, both in the story line and in the actual writing. The interesting aspect for me was the way Marisa de los Santos weaves the backstory of Pen, Cat, and Will into their own intermediary stories (each filled with tremendous loss), and their present day worlds. I also liked that while a more secondary character is a real jerk at times, there are aspects of his personality that make him totally redeemable, likable, and understandable, even though he also can be a (why does douche bag come to mind) buffoon and blow-hard. We all know people like that. Totally despicable, lovable turds.

Once again, I failed to note some of my favorite lines. Why do I look at a page number and think I'll remember it to come back and quote a passage. I think some of the things that charmed me involved Will's books, the relationships between parent and child (charming in Pen's case for both her own and with her daughter, terrifying in Will's), and the breaking awareness of falling together. I remember telling my brother I had fallen in love with my husband. "Don't 'fall' in love," her told me. "Rise in it" I did and continue to do so, but that's another story.

Gave this book a 4 simply for all the moments it made me stop and think about my own experience in life, for the lovely phrases that captivated me, for the descriptions of Pen's family (past and present), for sea-glass, for the darling fairy-princessness of Augusta, and Jason's beautiful way of relating to kids.

I received this book from the kind auspices of Harper Collins. They were offering a chance for one of three books by 3 different authors. I'd read all three authors, but one book was a series, and one was a deceased author, whose personal conduct broke my own code of decency (and I was also wondering in how a man two years dead wrote a book.) Anyhow, I left the decision up to them and they most graciously sent me this copy of the book to read and review. I am most grateful. show less