Where rainbows end
Rosie and Alex are childhood friends. They’ve been through everything together and have an amazing bond right from the start. As they grow up, this does not change, even when they start dating other people. However, fate steps in when Alex’s parents decide to go and live in America – and he has to go with them. They’ve never been apart before and Rosie is soon planning on joining a university in Boston so they can be together again.
However, the night that Rosie is due to fly out, she discovers something that will change her plans forever, and she stays at home in Ireland.
Starting at an invitation from Rosie to Alex inviting him to her seventh birthday party, this book chronicles their lives, from teenage dances to the start of their careers and relationships with others. How will Rosie and Alex’s friendship be tested when distance comes between them?
* Characters *
Rosie and Alex are obviously the main contenders and the ones we know most about from their correspondence. However when Rosie starts her first job, Ruby, an older woman is brought in as her ‘replacement’ best friend for Alex as he starts his new life in the US. Ruby’s appearance is mostly through instant messages which are fairly amusing, especially as she reads Rosie’s emails and is always sticking her nose in, wanting to know what’s going on with her and Alex and reading too much into what’s being said and drawing her own conclusions!
Other characters that pop up are Stephanie, Rosie’s sister who’s in France and Rosie’s parents (her mum trying to figure out how to use email is humourous) and Phil, Alex’s brother. Through these other characters we see what Alex and Rosie are really thinking rather than what they’re saying to each other. As their friendship becomes more complicated, they start to analyse what they really mean to one another and how distance isn’t really preventing them from seeing each other – their feelings are.
* Story *
This book is not what I expected at all!
The way it is told is quite clever. It’s told completely in note or letter form with ‘Dear Rosie/Alex’, instant messaging, email, text, postcards or even greetings cards! So the book’s pages aren’t full – they’re very gappy which I guess is a bit strange but the reader soon becomes used to it.
As I hadn’t known anything at all about this book, I had no idea about the strange way of story telling and I’m not sure if I’d have picked this up in a book store whether I would’ve bought it or not if I’d just randomly flicked through it. However, in the first few pages I was hooked and after an hour and a half train journey, I’d read over 100 pages.
* What I liked *
The banter between Alex and Rosie is really fun to read. They start as precocious children sulking over birthday invitations and this carries on to teenage years when Alex starts dating and Rosie feels a bit put out as their friendship takes a back seat. Their maturity comes through as their paths separate and jobs and families come into the picture.
Ruby is a really great character and is a person that, if you knew her, would be larger than life. She’s in her mid 30s at the start of the book and has a teenage son, Gary and an on/off boyfriend Teddy. She’s always there with ‘friendly’ advice for Rosie – which isn’t always wanted but she gives it anyway! I love the way her messages come through to Rosie at work and Rosie’s worried she’s going to get caught out by the bosses and be reprimanded for it.
The reader goes through everything with the two main characters, at times it’s frustrating to see how they’re hiding their feelings but at the same time it adds to the suspense and the bad timing on both their parts adds to the comic content.
* Good bits *
Little touches like Alex spelling ‘know’ as ‘no’ (consistently throughout the book!) made me smile, especially as it annoys Rosie and you get the impression that’s exactly why he does it!
One of my favourite bits of the book was when Rosie joins a divorcees’ chatroom. Alex’s nickname for her is Buttercup, so she signs on with that name.
Here’s a snippet:
Divorced_1: Well, trust me, it’s harder * with * kids. Unfortunately my rugrats are the spit of my husband and when I look at them I just want to strangle the little bastards. Do your kids look like your ex, UnsureOne?
UnsureOne: Yes and no. Some people say they do and others say they don’t. I’m not too sure really …
Wildflower: Let’s not be rude, guys, and introduce ourselves to Buttercup. I’m 62 years old, I’ve 5 kids and my husband left me last year.
Buttercup: Oh, how awful. I’m sorry.
Divorced_1: HA! No need to be sorry, cupcake. The man had good reason to leave her; she was sleeping with their gardener.
Buttercup: Oh!
Wildflower: Oh, *please *, like you lot never thought of ever doing the same thing.
UnsureOne: Well, my gardener was a woman.
* My conclusion *
I loved it. I raced through this book even though I tried to stop myself from finishing it too quickly. I loved the characters and the way the families are in the background and yet always coming to either Alex’s or Rosie’s aid if they’re needed. The strong bond that ties Alex and Rosie is there throughout, even when they’re far apart. It’s not overly slushy, their friendship is made up of teasing one another and joking but underneath the reader gets the impression there’s far more to it than that.
It reminded me slightly of Sophie Kinsella’s way of writing as I always find that very amusing so if you’re a fan of the Shopaholic series I think you’d probably like this book. However there’s more substance to this book and it’s not as lightweight - in fact there are moments of genuine sadness which *almost* reduced me to tears, but as I'm a tough cookie I managed to hold them in!
A lot of years pass and the reader experiences all the emotions and traumas along with the characters as well as the laughs and happy times.
I enjoyed the way it was written. At first it was weird reading so many separate ‘bits’ of story and piecing them all together but after a while, once the child versions of Alex and Rosie ‘grew up’ and they started emailing one another, that almost felt like spying on them. As we all know, it’s very naughty to read other people’s emails because they’re private. * evil grin *
In a nutshell I recommend this one. Highly – and five star treatment at that.
* Other info *
453 pages.
This is Cecilia Ahern’s second novel. She lives in Ireland and is currently writing her next novel (yay!).
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