Author: Tiffanie DeBartolo
Format: ARC
Publisher: Sourcebooks Landmark
Publish Date: May 2002 (Just re-released this month!)
Source: Publisher
What's the Story?:
From Goodreads.com: "With wit and humor, the author brings these characters and their quirky, artsy friends alive. Bottom Line: You'll dig it" -- People
If your intentions are pure
I am seeking a friend
For the end of the world
When Beatrice Jordan meets the unpredictable Jacob Grace, the two wild souls become instant allies. Together they discover an escape in each other's creativity and insecurities, while running from secrets they cannot seem to shake - or a fate that could throw them to the ground...
This 15th Anniversary reissue of Tiffanie DeBartolo's classic love story introduces a new audience of dreamers to a quintessentially real and raw vision of spirit, and inspires everyone to live -- and love -- as vividly as possible."
My Two Cents:
In "God-Shaped Hole," Beatrice randomly answers a newspaper personal ad. She meets Jacob and they fall totally and utterly in love. They believe that they are soul mates but somehow it feels real and not like the cliche that term normally seems to denote. They move fast and they dream big. They dream of getting out of the gray concrete jungle of Los Angeles to somewhere that feels more real, has more heart. It is the place of their dreams and the place that keeps them striving for something better. This is a book that will break your heart in a million different ways. This is the kind of book that encapsulates being alive and living to the fullest.
Wow! This book was so good. I loved the relationship between Beatrice and Jacob. Beatrice is a little more realistic and grounded. Jacob is a dreamer. He lives his life in a very different way than Beatrice that sometimes causes conflict but more often than not makes her see life in a different light. Jacob cannot cut himself off from letting his feelings lead but it's refreshing to see how he puts himself out there. He also helps Beatrice to be a little bit less guarded and more open to possibility.
The book also brought up a lot of questions about fate. The book starts out with Beatrice talking about how a fortune teller told her that her only love would die young when she was only 12 years old. The logical side of her knows that it was only a fortune teller. The illogical side of her that wants to believe in something greater than random chance believes this may have an affect on her life. Is it fate that she and Jacob meet through a strange little personal ad? Did the personal ad foretell of their love story? Was what happened to Jacob connected to Trixie's past? All of these big, huge questions are up to the reader to decide. I loved that this book was one thing on it's surface (a tragic love story) and another underneath (a rumination on chance vs. fate).
Do you want a book that will break your heart? Do you want a book that will kiss you hard and then sucker punch you? Do you want a book that captures all of the gorgeous things that being in a good relationship brings? Do you want a book that captures why it's so important to live fully without fixating on the future? Do you want a book that will stick to your guts long after you close the book? This one is for you.
I think this will be a fantastic book to read this summer. Thanks for the great review.
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