The Main Character

"Rory goes for the ride of her life on the Orient Express through Italy à la Hercule Poirot. She glimpses all the sights and secrets those around her could be hiding. Especially those close to her. And throughout her trip, she soul-searches and finds there to be no coincidences. The reason she is sent on this trek through different Italian locales is due to none other than famed author, Ginevra Ex. Even her name oozes drama and promises this to be the story of a lifetime. Her approach to storytelling is unconventional and intriguing to say the least. She intentionally selects real people to be her fictional main characters to star in each of her works. But her reasons for selecting Rory are a little more personal than usual. As you read, you’ll discover why and get a look into several different perspectives: Rory herself, Caroline, Rory’s best friend, Max, her brother, and Nate, her ex-fiancé. I mostly enjoyed this book and was readily allured by its premise, but there were a couple loose ends left behind. Some including never finding out why Rory lost her job as a news anchor, and mostly towards the end in regards to the twist, which was powerful yet not fully believable. Sometimes to seek beauty, however, we must look deeper into ourselves and coax our insecurities out of hiding in order to address them and this book genuinely speaks to that. It also speaks to what it means to heartbreakingly lose time. It is sad, devastating, and original through and through and reminds that we can’t be someone else’s main character our whole lives, but own the integrity and truths of our own stories. Really, take control of our specific narratives and rewrite and edit them in the ways we see fit. And along the way, hopefully enjoy life more than survive it when we can because it passes by in the flash of an eye. "