The Man of My Dreams

I recently read the book The Man of My Dreams by Curtis Sittenfeld. The story begins in June 1991 when Hannah at the age of 14 years old sees her parents separate. As she grows older she meets three men. There is Mike who truly loves her but she doesn’t find a soul mate in him. Then we have the handsome Oliver who gives her attention and much more but has a roving eye. Finally there is Henry for whom Hannah has held a torch for years. She moves to Chicago to be near him only to learn he has a girlfriend. They begin to spend unusual times together, acknowledge their once up on a time crush for each other and recognize the “weird thing” happening between them. But ultimately their relationship doesn't move any further and this is the closest Hannah comes to finding the man of her dreams.

When Henry steers towards Suzy, a heartbroken Hannah goes to New Mexico where she learns to live again. With some soul searching, she is able to confront the demons of her childhood that have always held her back. Nearly two years later one day in May 2005 she writes a letter to her therapist telling her the lessons learned.

Here are a few of the lines Hannah says in those pages and my comments (in italics):

"Perhaps this is how you know you're doing the thing you're intended to do: No matter how slow or slight your progress, you never feel that it's a waste of time.”
*When looking at other people’s lives and success, in a moment of weakness we tend to question our own worth. I feel in such a situation we should think like Hannah to strengthen our belief in what we do.*

“I wanted to hold happiness in reserve, like a bottle of champagne. I postponed it because I was afraid, because I overvalued it, because I didn’t want to use it up, because what do you wish for then? The possibility, that I was intimidated by getting what I wanted, is the hardest one for me to consider, which might mean it is the likeliest.”
*It is indeed our fears that tie us down and make us hesitate when all we needed to do was take a leap of faith.*

“I don’t mean this to be glib,” Hannah continues, “but I feel like a lot of life is distasteful and embarrassing. And you just push through it. Isn’t that the big lesson we learned from living with Dad? You fix what you can, and you let time pass.”
*It is hard to wait for time do its magic but mostly it does work.*

----------------------------------------------------------------------

PS: Would like to share any quote from a book that stayed back with you?