I woke up with that Beatles song in my head, which reminded me of “On Seeing the 100% Perfect Girl,” a Haruki Murakami’s short story.
Something I don’t love is The Believers by Zoë Heller. Many publications and people have recommended the book, but it was my mom who went so far as to buy me a copy. Her basic endorsement was that she couldn’t put it down. And I can’t either. I started it yesterday, and I’m more than half way. More to the point, I took a local train to keep reading it. But I can’t recommend it the way I recommend “On Seeing The 100% Perfect Girl.” It’s silly to compare a fable-like short story to a novel, but I can see that Heller’s writing is quicker and her characters are more drawn than Murakami’s. But despite her technical deftness, her main characters are awful people. And while I get that The Believers is a well done book, I already deal with enough jerks in my life.