The Way We Weren’t
by Phoebe Fox
An unlikely friendship between a septuagenarian and a younger woman becomes a story of broken trust, lost love, and the unexpected blooming of hope against the longest odds.
You trying to kill yourself, or are you just stupid?
Marcie Malone didn’t think she was either, but when she drives from Georgia to the southwestern shore of Florida without a plan and wakes up in a stranger’s home, she doesn’t seem to know anymore. Despondent and heartbroken over an unexpected loss and the man she thought she could count on, Marcie leaves him behind, along with her job and her whole life, and finds she has nowhere to go.
Herman Flint has seen just about everything in his seventy years living in a fading, blue-collar Florida town, but the body collapsed on the beach outside his window is something new. The woman is clearly in some kind of trouble and Flint wants no part of it–he’s learned to live on his own just fine, without the hassle of worrying about others. But against his better judgment, he takes Marcie in and lets her stay until she’s on her feet on the condition she keeps out of his way.
As the unlikely pair slowly copes with the damages life has wrought, Marcie and Flint have to decide whether to face up to the past they’re each running from and find a way to move forward with the people they care about most.
My Rating:
Favorite Quotes:
Will wanted her to stay home a few more days too, not try to jump right back into routine but give herself some time “to process.” As if she were an antiquated CPU.
“There’s a hundred bucks in there, and it’s in your name only,” she’d muttered from the side of her mouth like a Dick Tracy villain.
He had wispy white hair that danced back and forth on top of his head under the fan, like a line of anemic hula girls.
Marcie was accustomed to the meager wavelengths of his emotional spectrum— he had two settings, hostile and prickly…
… it was like wading into a sponge, the air so moist and warm and heavy it felt like someone else’s exhaled breath.
Get over here and hydrate, Herman, before you shrivel the rest of the way up.
My Review:
Even though the writing was well seasoned with angst, which isn’t on my list of favorite things, I didn’t seem to mind a bit as the storylines squeezed my heart and kept me fully engaged and heavily invested. I was so deeply immersed in Ms. Fox’s perceptive storytelling that, SMH, for a hot moment I felt the need to start making my own preparations for the incoming hurricane the characters were expecting. Sigh, she sucked me right into their tale of familial woe and regrets, which were fretfully real and relatable.
Marcie had been enjoying a good life but it was one of acquiescence rather than one of her choosing, and don’t we all do that to some extent? She didn’t realize she wasn’t satisfied with the way things were until she experienced a personal trauma and went off the rails, and this is where her adventure begins. It wasn’t an easy beach vacation, but she found pieces of herself, took some thoughtless risks, and was helped by a cranky and cantankerous old coot who had more layers than an egg farm. I alternated between adoring him and wanting to give him a few smacks with my Kindle.
Once again, Ms. Fox’s writing was uncannily insightful, itchy, and shrewdly paced. She stealthily slotted me into her characters’ tale and had me digging in the sand while rescuing turtle eggs, dancing rave style, serving beer in a dive bar, and digging out of a hurricane. I’m not used to this much activity, I need a spa day to recover.
About the Author
that cover is simply beautiful and your review as always tempts…thanks so much for introducing me to this book – i think i will love it