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"Maybe You Should Talk to Someone"

If you're reading this dishy Lori Gottlieb memoir already, then please enjoy my gallery of favorite characters:

(1) The cranky TV writer who hates everyone and everything. Gottlieb mentions that this guy has turned his misanthropic thinking into several wicked hit TV shows. Which makes me think we might be talking about a writer for "Veep"? Hard to know. I love the twists in this guy's story. You think he's despicable, then you hear some hints about the alcoholic father, and you get that fun texting-to-make-you-stop-texting scene. And of course the guy's fondness for his dog. Gottlieb's insistence on loving this guy--despite the guy's self-loathing--makes for compelling reading.

(2) The woman with the leaking, gangrenous leg stumps. It's this woman who persuades Gottlieb to leave her TV career--her meetings with Clooney and Aniston--and attempt medical school. You can't make these bits up.

(3) The woman who might die, but might not, but might, but might not. What a wonderful metaphor for the human condition. (I know we're talking about an actual person.) Possibly-ill woman continuously receives contradictory diagnoses and predictions--so she is at war with herself. She can't decide whether she should try to plan for her future, a future that may not exist. Does this remind you of yourself, to some extent?

(4) The wishy-washy boyfriend. I especially enjoy the eight-year-old's way of coping with the boyfriend's disappearance. "When we eat a banana, aren't we killing it?" (Therapist mom knows that the little boy is identifying with the wounded banana.) And the multi-layered moment with the ex-boyfriend's board game. As if reading from a Chekhov script, the little boy dumps the board game in a pile of trash: "You can take that away, Mom. I don't like it anymore."

(5) Victor Hugo. Yes, Mr. Hugo is a character here! Or, at least, he is quoted. "Whatever causes night in our souls may leave stars." Artistic triumphs growing out of suffering. Robust plants growing out of manure. We can't quite know what may be around the corner. We must just try to be the protagonists in our own lives.

I could eat this stuff for breakfast, lunch, and dinner....
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