4 STARSWell January is turning out to be May-December affair, manwhore (literally) stories reading month for me. I wasn't expecting to like this as much as I did, mostly because I was expecting the writing to be dated (this was first published in 2006). But I'm perfectly impressed with how textured both Sean/Mouth and Megan's characters turned out. Not to say I loved them but their depth and the clarity at which I understood them as people without the author telling me in blinding neon signs how to feel about them was quite refreshing.Megan is a 23-year old nearly fresh grad who came to LA set out to break out of her tedious job as a copy editor and finally become a writer. I know some who have read this didn't like her for one reason or another: she's tardy at her job, her apartment's in a perpetual state of a mess, she lusts after an underaged hustler while having a fuck buddy on the side and so on. I didn't like her either, but what I did like about her is that I understand her. She comes from a very typical background of a normal, loving family and she's not only set out to make a career for herself, she's set out to chasing after that elusive maturity. She WANTS to be mature, to make a life for herself that stands apart from the near-perfect life she had with her family. Which is what, I think, attracted her to Sean, someone she can take care of and be the adult she yearns to be.Sean on the other hand is a 17-year old hustler. He didn't have what Megan had. Instead he had an addict for a mother who he had to take care of early on until she died. So when he was out on his own he didn't really want to take care of anyone anymore and just wanted to be left alone. I liked the imperfect symmetry of their circumstances and how they fit with each other: one's trying to be an adult, the other's been an adult for far too long.A huge chunk of the book was dedicated to Megan and Sean figuring out their relationship. I wasn't squicked by their age difference because I didn't feel it that significant (except that Sean's underaged by a few months). I like the subtlety of the events unfolding. There was no soap opera drama which I appreciated because it allowed me to digress well into Sean and Megan's logic and motivations. I do think the resolution felt like no resolution at all and has kept this from being a perfect read, but all things considered, I find myself looking at the long-term tenants on my TBR pile and wonder what book as good as this one am I missing out on.
