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Jul 04, 2017stephaniedchase rated this title 5 out of 5 stars
GEORGE & LIZZIE is a book for readers who love characters. Imperfect -- and confused -- Lizzie will jump out at you from the beginning, and whether you immediately love her, as I did, or hate her, you must give her a chance, for along the way, you'll meet the wonderful Marla and James, and George's fantastic parents, Lizzie's not-so-fantastic parents, and George, of course. Nancy Pearl talks about writing the kind of story she likes to read, and she's certainly written the kind I like to read as well: complex, messy characters who make choices in spite of themselves, writing and language full of energy, and an exploration of deep, long-time friendship. I was also pleasantly surprised at how pitch-perfect Pearl writes about Generation X; I went in, having read the "marriage at a crossroads" description, expecting to read about characters much older than George and Lizzie are, and I loved to instead see characters struggling through the same kinds of societal and generational challenges that I did. It is also to me not as much a story about a marriage as it is about choices and the tales we tell ourselves. I only wish I could have spent more time with George and Lizzie.