INSOMNIAC SONG
BOOK REVIEWS
CONTEMPORARY ROMANCE
Something Borrowed
Author: Emily Giffin
Page Count: 341 pages
Date Published: April 2005
Publisher: Griffin
Related novels: Something Blue
Synopsis: Rachel White is the consummate good girl. A hard-working attorney in Manhattan and diligent maid-of-honor to her best friend Darcy, Rachel has always done the right thing. But all of that changes the night of her thirtieth birthday when, after a few too many drinks, she ends up in bed with Darcy's fiance. Although she wakes up determined to put the one-night fling behind her, Rachel is horrified to realize that she has genuine feelings for the only guy she shouldn't. As the wedding date nears, Rachel must make a choice between her heart and conscience. In so doing, she discovers that the lines between right and wrong can be blurry, endings aren't always neat and sometimes you have to risk everything to win true happiness.
Something Borrowed was a discount, bargain bin find along with its sequel, Something Blue. Something Borrowed had been made into a film in 2011 starring Ginnifer Goodwin and Kate Hudson. I’d seen the film not long after it was released. Something Borrowed was flawed as a film due to simple neglect of the source material. Characters were changed and merged as well as entire plot points being eliminated or adjusted. If you haven’t been able to tell so far, this is a major pet peeve for me. Reading the novel first will likely leave you disappointed with the way the film was handled.
The writing isn’t incredible or truly memorable. For her debut novel, Emily Griffin tries to deliver characters that women are going to relate to. The novel is written from the point of view of Rachel, a mousy lawyer forever hidden in the shadow of her beautiful best friend. A lot of women will identify with Rachel. Society has expectations of women to be beautiful, successful wives and mothers. She’s left feeling as if something is wrong with her because she isn’t married and on her way to raising a family. All the other women in her life are working toward that goal. Her own mother prefers Darcy to Rachel, leaving her feeling even more insecure.
The women have been friends since childhood, facing nearly every milestone together. The ultimate milestone was turning thirty. This has been a looming date in their lives with Rachel imagining what her life would be like at the time. Rachel’s thirtieth birthday arrives with a surprise party thrown by her best friend, Darcy. She never imagined that she’d reach the date single although she did fulfill her dream of becoming a lawyer. The night ultimately ends with a drunken affair between Rachel and Darcy’s fiancé, Dex.
Rachel waxes and wanes between feeling guilty and justifying her actions. She was Dex’s friend first, having known him since law school. She’d liked him first, but hadn’t acted on it. Why would such a handsome, smart man want her when there were beautiful, charismatic women like Darcy available? It’s obvious that Rachel feels she’s unworthy of affection due to feeling less attractive than her friend. Through flashbacks, we’re able to see that this isn’t the first time that Darcy has put herself ahead of Rachel.
This isn’t simply a love triangle novel. It’s more about Rachel coming to terms with the uneven friendship she shares with Darcy. Beautiful and self-absorbed, Darcy has always gotten what she wanted no matter whose feelings were hurt in the process. This has been the nature of their relationship since childhood. Rachel’s friends, Ethan and Hilary, try to show her just how one-sided her friendship is. Each encourages Rachel to stand up for herself where she has always let Darcy walk all over her.
As Darcy’s wedding grows closer, Rachel will have to make a choice. Will Rachel be able to stand up for what she wants even if it means losing Darcy in the process? Her choices aren’t cut and dry. From Rachel’s point of view, it’s easy to see why she’s having such a hard time with those choices. Rachel has to come to terms with what she’s done on her own, regardless of how Ethan and Hilary have pointed out Darcy’s narcissistic tendencies.
While there are times when I felt that Rachel was foolish for continuing to be friends with Darcy, I am often guilty of hanging on to toxic friendships long past the time they should have ended. Darcy’s behavior is often excused even when she’s being completely unreasonable. The novel does glorify infidelity and withholding the truth. It seems as if everyone is cheating on one another without much guilt or remorse. By the end, it’s hard to keep track of which party is guiltier. If you’re looking for a bit of light chick-lit reading, pick this one up.
Rating: 2/5
CONTEMPORARY ROMANCE
Something Blue
Author: Emily Giffin
Page Count: 356
Date Published: March 2006
Publisher: Griffin
Related novels: Something Borrowed
Synopsis: Something Blue continues the story of Darcy Rhone. She has always been able to rely on a few things: Her beauty and charm. Her fiance, Dex. Her lifelong best friend, Rachel. She never needed anything else. Or so she thinks until Dex calls off their dream wedding and she uncovers the ultimate betrayal. Blaming everyone but herself, Darcy flees to London and attempts to re-create her glamorous life on a new continent. But to her dismay, she discovers that her tried-and-true tricks no longer apply--and that her luck has finally expired. It is only then that she can begin her journey toward redemption, forgiveness, and true love.
Something Blue is the sequel to Emily Giffin’s 2005 debut novel, Something Borrowed. The sequel focuses on Darcy, the wronged best friend from the first novel. She’s the beautiful, charismatic girl who judges people on their appearances right down to their shoes. The beginning of the novel recounts the betrayal that Darcy feels she suffered at the hands of Rachel and Dex. Forget the fact that she cheated on Dex and got pregnant by Marcus, one of his groomsmen, in the process. Darcy holds herself to be the victim in the situation, despite the fact that she pursued Marcus while Rachel tried to let Dex go. It’s everyone else’s fault that her engagement to Dex failed.
Instantly, Darcy believes that she’ll marry Marcus and raise their child together. There is no real remorse over cheating on Dex. The relationship with Marcus wasn’t the first time that she’d betrayed Dex, although she sees those instances as harmless. When her relationship with Marcus falls apart, Darcy makes a desperate attempt to reclaim the life she lost before leaving for London to move in with Ethan. He’s another childhood friend that she shared with Rachel, the boy Rachel liked and Darcy stole. She believes that changing continents will fix all of her problems.
Everything is about Darcy regardless of where she is. For roughly twenty-one chapters, Darcy is still the same selfish person that she was before. Her life in London doesn’t change very drastically from what she’d had in Manhattan. Her priority should be the child growing inside her womb. Instead, she’s still the same self-absorbed woman indulging in alcohol and a new designer wardrobe. It isn’t until a short conversation with Ethan that she suddenly decides to change.
New friends refer her to an obstetrician where she learns that she’s not having the perfect little girl she’d been hoping for. A new boyfriend comes quickly afterward in the form of that very same doctor. He’s exactly what she wants, rich, handsome and willing to spoil her. She still feels as if she’s missing something in her life. Perhaps, it’s anxiety over her impending childbirth.
The novel relies strongly on whether you believe in Darcy’s transformation. Almost the whole novel was dedicated to showing the reader what a terribly shallow person that Darcy was. Was motherhood and her friendship with Ethan supposed to fill in the shallow parts of her personality? It seemed too quick and easy for me to truly believe it. I didn’t feel that she’d learned anything or redeemed her past behavior.
Ethan also lost something as a character in Something Blue. He was such a strong supporter of Rachel in Something Borrowed, encouraging her to let go of the toxic relationship she had with Darcy. Is the reader supposed to believe that he’s suddenly seen the good in the shallow woman he wasn’t fond of before? He did buy Darcy’s supposed transformation far quicker than I did.
There was a little resolution to Darcy’s friendship with Rachel, but that too felt a bit contrived. It did give the reader a small glimpse into what had happened with Rachel and Dex while Darcy was in London. If you were a fan of Rachel in Something Borrowed, you’ll be happy with her conclusion in the last chapter of Something Blue. Pick this one up if you’re curious to see things from Darcy’s side. Otherwise, just give the final chapter a glance to find out what happened with Rachel and Dex.
Rating: 1/5