It’s hard to cut writing. Perfectionism, sunk costs, etc. Procrastination abound. I would try to cut a section down, polish it off, and move on, but kept finding myself rewriting the section entirely. I was moving at a snail’s pace.

The Story of Us is a stunning and emotional story told from the unique viewpoint of a newborn baby. If there even was a right choice that is, as I did feel that the eventual conclusion of the story wasn't fair to the one character who ended up being by himself. While it was an impossible choice for Emma either way, I also felt that her response was unfair and he (I'm not mentioning any names as to not spoil the ending) didn't deserve such an unhappy ending.

Reader Reviews

You have to relax and just go with this new take on the omniscient narrator, who disappears at many stages of the story, but does return again and again, as a fertilized egg, a fetus and finally as a newborn. You'll finally forgive its bizarre nature and even begin to love its viewpoint when it expresses itself: I wanted so badly to take my first breath, to be photographed, fawned over. To have my cheeks pinched. To be punished for doing things I wasn’t supposed to do, touching things I wasn’t supposed to touch. To be measured against a wall, year after year. To grow taller. To be cheered on every time I learned something new. I wanted that. Could you blame me? And the problem with this particular delusion is that it’s a perfect way to ruin your life. If I believed I was working on a six-year project, I’d have worked the project into my normal life. I’d get into a rhythm that would allow for a work-life balance. But when you think you’re at most a couple months from finishing a big project, it makes sense to put everything else on hold for just a little bit more until the project is done. I wasn’t someone who never made fun plans or who worked on every vacation or who took a lot of Vyvanse—I was someone who did those things just for right now, because I’m in crunch time on a big project. For six years.

Het was zo een mooi hoofdstuk met jarenlange liefde en inside jokes. Ik was er echt van overtuigd dat ik op hun bruiloft was. Toen er kleinkinderen ter sprake kwamen was ik even in verwarring, maar toen ging het weer door - wat lief en leuk zo op latere leeftijd. Dani Atkins is a remarkable storyteller and I was captivated from the very beginning. What I loved most about The Story of Us is how completely realistic it felt. It wasn’t angsty or melodramatic but instead felt totally plausible. Emma was faced with situations where there were no easy answers. Atkins never took the easy way out by creating heroes and villains. Characters were imbued with human flaws and weaknesses but also love and compassion and kindness. There were times I truly wanted to dislike certain characters and it’s a credit to Dani’s writing that I was often conflicted and felt empathy for those same characters. I don’t truly know what life is like for you, but I imagine in your line of work, people don’t often see you as a human being with needs and feelings, am I right? But you deserve to be treated with respect. It’s the same with Liz. She deserves to be seen as a person. The more you get to know her, the better this arrangement can be.”

Site Customisation

Atkins weet wederom een emotioneel verhaal neer te zetten, wat mij in elk geval van begin tot eind bij mijn strot heeft vastgegrepen. Niet alleen liefde en familie spelen een grote rol in het boek, maar ook meerdere manieren van verraad, vergeving en omgaan met problemen. Vooral Emma wordt in het boek verraden en de manier waarop ze dit een plaats in haar leven geeft en ermee om leert te gaan is benijdenswaardig. Haar moeder kampt met dementie en er wordt op een mooie manier weergegeven wat voor impact dit op liefhebbenden heeft. The first chunk of this book sets the scene, and it did take me a while to get caught up in the plot, but I promise it's worth getting into the meat of the story. It's rare that I have the ability to really sink into a book and read uninterrupted lately. Distractions and so much burnout and fatigue. But this book ensnared me, and I stayed up past my bedtime enjoying every minute of it.