Forever, Interrupted: A Novel

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And now, every time I encounter a pizza restaurant, I have to have the low-level expectation that I will instantaneously fall in love with the love of my life outside said establishment, like our protagonist in this book. E lsie has a very distant relationship with her parents. How do you think their absence from her life affects first her courtship with Ben—and then later, her experience of mourning? Do Elsie’s views on family change over the course of the narrative? Do you think the novel distinguishes between what constitutes friendship and what constitutes family? I'd read two other books by this author so I knew I was in for something unconventional from this story, but I didn't expect to enjoy it so much. Since it's given away in the synopsis that Ben had died, I knew this would be a tough book to read at times. But despite that, I loved seeing Elsie and Ben falling in love. I was intrigued by the relationship between Susan and Elsie.

I nodded. “That sounds about right. I lost you for about three hours and found you in the upstairs bathroom, so I can’t speak to how far you and that guy from the gym got, but I would imagine . . . ” As both Elsie and Susan try to navigate their grief and try to find a way forward, they learn to accept they weren’t the only person to love Ben Ross. Forever, Interrupted Book Review: My Opinion Daphne.” This waitress wasn’t nearly as interested in being friends with us as Ana might have hoped.This reading group guide for Forever, Interrupted includes discussion questions, and ideas for enhancing your book club. The suggested questions are intended to help your reading group find new and interesting angles and topics for your discussion. We hope that these ideas will enrich your conversation and increase your enjoyment of the book.

I loved how you split the chapters between now and then, but I wasn’t really hooked until you got to the NOW...and that’s because Elsie isn’t a character I enjoyed. I get that she’s going through pain and sorrow, but she is a BRAT! I didn’t care for her (or frankly, even Ben) until after he died and Elsie started getting close to Susan. Instead, Ana got too drunk at the party, started making out with the guy from the gym, and disappeared for a few hours. This was fairly typical of Ana and something that I had come to love about her, namely that nothing ever went as planned. Something always happened. She was a nice reprieve from my own personality. A personality for whom everything went as planned and nothing ever happened. So when I was stranded at the party waiting for Ana to pop out of wherever she’d been hiding, I wasn’t angry or surprised. I had assumed things might take this turn. I was only slightly annoyed as I rang in the new year with a group of strangers. I stood there awkwardly, as friends kissed each other, and I just stared into my champagne glass. I didn’t let it ruin my evening. I talked to some cool people that night. I made the best of it. I turn and look around, but I don’t see Ben anywhere. I start to scream his name. I know he’s okay. I’m sure of it. I just need this to be over. I just want to see him with a small scrape and be told he’s fine to go home. Let’s go home, Ben. I’ve learned my lesson to never let you do such a stupid favor for me again. I’ve learned my lesson; let’s go home. Why is it important to Elsie that she and Ben were legally married? What do you think about Susan’s point of view, that, “It means nothing . . . You think that some ten minutes you spent with Ben in a room defines what you meant to each other? It doesn’t. You define that. What you feel defines that. You loved him. He loved you . . . It doesn’t matter whether it’s labeled a husband or a boyfriend. You lost the person you love. You lost the future you thought you had” (p. 250)?Romantic love may seem like the driving force behind Forever, Interrupted, but in what ways does friendship also shape the novel? In particular, how does seeing Elsie in the role of a friend—and not just as Ben’s girlfriend and wife— add to our understanding of her? What do her interactions with Ana, as well as with Mr. Callahan, reveal about her as a character? Although I didn't love all of Elsie 's decisions or the way she handled a few situations throughout the book, I do appreciate the way in which TJR allows her characters to just tell their story. There it was. Do-or-die time. How to say it without screaming it with all of the nervous energy in my body? “You can have my number. It’s only fair.” Interweaving Elsie and Ben’s charmed romance with Elsie and Susan’s healing process, Forever, Interrupted shows us that there’s more than one way to find a happy ending. So, if you're up for a book unique from any other, I highly recommend this one. While it wasn't all puppies and rainbows it still had magic moments that made it exceptional.