"Come With Me" promises the reader a journey into exploring the past lives of individuals, and how they might have turned out differently, had other choices been made. Hey, who, at one time or another, does not think about that? It was, after all the foundation of Sondheim's musical, "Follies."
The problem with this book, is while the premise is fascinating, and yields some dazzling moments, it is so pumped with testosterone that most of its characters are victims, dickheads, and sluts!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Amy Reed, the heroine, is a victim. She lives with Dan Hellinger, a loser ex jock, who cannot find a job, and so sits around, yearning for pussy. Which he finally gets when he blows all the family has, money wise, by going to Japan with some pretentious Millennial Miss, who gives him what he wants, and leaves him panting for more. Clearly, he needs some estrogen shots.
Her son Jack, is no better. There are so many overt references to the white male's lack of personal hygiene, that I, who take very good care of myself, in that area, was offended. The men here are all pigs, whose feet stink, who don't take showers, and who don't care about it. Especially Donny, the son of Amy's friend, Lauren, who thinks he is Mark Zuckerberg, but is SO out of that league. Meanwhile, Jack has a slut girlfriend, Lily, who sleeps in Jack's bed, with him, at his parents' house, with their permission. What kind of parenting is this? And Lily's mother is a slut; the kind who tries to pick up men while showing houses as a realtor, causing her to vacate the house the next morning, minus her panties!!!!!!!!!!!!! Slut!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
The only clever moments are the uses of the multiverse theory, and its all too brief explorations, and the titular phrase being used by different people in different contexts. One of those, of course, has to be sexual. We are not talking genius, like Shirley Jackson, here!!!!!!!!!!!!
Oh, and Amy is a victim. She is in a loser marriage, she has a loser son, and she works with Millenial losers. Her twin boys are not much better. Of course, Schulman makes her the only female in an all male houses, which ups her victimhood!!!!! She was in an East Village relationship, when young, with a loser who exploited her, in his idea of becoming an actor--an old NYC story, darlings!!!!!!!!!--and miscarries a daughter. The last is not her fault, but everything else is.
And, at the end, instead of fleeing all this, Amy goes back into the house, with loser Dan? Have we forgotten Ibsen? Or is Schulman arguing for the submission of all things female, as Donald Trump would have it??????????????????????
The book does not gain momentum till the last third, when a terrible tragedy I never saw coming, takes place. I understand why it happened, but after the reader gets past this, the characters all revert back to the sex addled losers they are!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Not, unlike, Miss Schulman, whose attempt to write something serious--and she was SO onto it--frustrates, when she reverts to self-righteous heterosexual crap!!!!!!!!!!!!
Hey, Miss Schulman, maybe you should watch, where you leave YOUR panties, darling!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
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