The Catastrophic History of You and Me, Jess Rothenberg

When I saw the title of this book, I was instantly reminded of This Is A Love Story for some reason. I was expecting a light, chic-flick read, something that I could read to pass the time, may it be at a café waiting for girlfriends who are always late, or at home waiting for my TV program to be finally aired. Little did I know that the catastrophe stated here isn’t really about the endless cliché of boy meets girl, girl chases for the boy, boy goes away and girl can’t quite get over. But it’s the most inevitable catastrophe of all that all of us won’t be able to escape – death.

At first, I thought it was most unusual that the point-of-view used is that of a dead person, talking from the afterlife. I wanted to leave it to the author’s imagination just what to expect after our final breaths. But then I imagined, what if it’s true? What if I would be given the chance to go back to make things right? I bet it would hard for me, as there were a lot of days I wanted to go back to and undo things. In the end, I figured out what the story was all about, and at the same time agreed that there isn’t any more fitting point of view than that of the dead girl.

I should say that the story is a mix of romance, sacrifice, tragedy, and self-realization. It defines just how true love is supposed to be, though, of course, all of us have our own idea of what true love really is and how much sacrifice we are willing to do for the sake of those we care about. And of course, the stages of death, I think also apply as stages of grief, heartbrokenness, and loss among many others: denial, acceptance, bargaining, depression and acceptance. I have also read about these stages in the book Lies My Girlfriend Told Me (by Julie Anne Peters), which I read right after this book.