I'm Glad About You

I'm Glad About You is the Navajo's translation for I love you, because as a tribe there is no direct translation, and their belief is that no one can possess another.

In Theresa Rebeck's novel, I'm Glad About You high school sweethearts Alison and Kyle share the stories of their lives after their breakup.  

Alison has moved to New York to pursue her dreams of making it big as an actor. Kyle has chosen a more traditional life, becoming a pediatrician and marrying and having children.

As they enter their mid-late twenties, they both return home at various points running into each other.  

It is obvious that these two still have feelings for each other. Sometimes they long for the past, thinking fondly of each other.  Some conversations produce bitterness.  

The lives they lead seem lacking something, as though they would be better if they were together. And yet, time has passed and they are both in different places.

I found myself not liking Alison or Kyle very much at all. But I could also understand the way they still had feelings for each other, remembering how important they were to each other at one point.  Rebeck's novel shares a story that in some way or another most people can relate to.

There are rough spots in this novel.  I didn't especially care about the details of Alison's auditions or the scripts.  I had a hard time getting into this one as well, and it took a bit before I really was invested in the story.  

However, the way in which Kyle and Alison were still affected by each other even years after the break-up, kept me hopeful that they would either truly move on, or return to each other.  

Although this won't be on my Best of 2016 list, it is solid and entertaining.