God-Shaped Hole

If “Everything, Everything” by Nicola Yoon and “All the Bright Places” by Jennifer Niven had a sexually-charged book baby, this would be it. Now, to be fair, “God-Shaped Hole” was written nearly a decade and a half before those two books, but still...

I had no idea what this book was about but it kept calling my name each time I walked past it in the bookstore. I read the first page - which seemed interesting enough - so I bought it and binged it.

This was nearly the perfect novel for me to read right now. The only thing that I would have changed was all of the nonchalant “sex stuff”; I would have removing most of it. Wow, I sound like such a prude. Lol. God-Shaped Hole had the three things that I usually enjoy most in when I'm taking a break from nonfiction: witty dialogue, meaningful connections, and utter devastation. I can see why some people would hate the book, but it did the trick on filling my God-Shaped Hole for the time being.

Anything less than mad, passionate, extraordinary love is a waste of your time. There are too many mediocre things in life to deal with and love shouldn't be one of them.

Over a decade ago a movie changed my life. It sounds so cliche but it is the truth. Dream For An Insomniac starring Ione Skye & Jennifer Anniston. I can close my eyes and watch the movie in my head from beginning to end despite having not watched it in several years. Ione Skye's Frankie was a romantic who would settle for nothing less than what she deemed to be perfect love and I, well I was stuck in a marriage with a man I didn't even like anymore. Everything in the movie spoke to me. I was Frankie. I was certain I wasn't going to settle for anything less than extraordinary love.

So I booked a flight out of Texas and never went back.

Years later I stumbled upon two books written by Tiffanie DeBartolo who wrote that life-changing movie and finally, I've read one.

Every character came to life for me. I could feel the desperation at the idea of being stuck in their hell forever. The helplessness when things began to spiral, the content and giddiness when things were on track....it was all so much life it sparked within the pages.

It's hard to articulate how I feel after reading God-Shaped Hole without spoiling the book for anyone who should want to read it and you should want to read it. DeBartolo has a way with words. It made me want to write again, to keep a journal, to write everything down. To create a story and despite having very little in common with Trixie I related to her in a way that made everything too personal so that when the book was finished I felt broken.

The worst book hangover ever, but truly worth it.