Moriah, why do you say it’s an EFY ending? Oh–I just saw that you said you’re shutting up because you think you’ve wasted too much time and energy on this topic. In that case, be warned: I’m following up this review in a few weeks with an author interview. I fully intend to continue bothering people with this book for the next month.

I didn’t feel betrayed. I take the ending for what it is, a wrap-up for a story that subverts the trend in the bedroom endings, implied or shown, in romantic comedies. This man and this woman change not only each other’s lives in big ways, their relationship changes the lives of their friends and families–all without Becky crossing The Big Line. A baby is born, the heart of a man who resents his mother and doesn’t want to be a father begins to turn, a daughter gets to be a fashion designer, a couple of boys get important fatherly attention in the wake of their father’s death, people’s short-sighted thinking is shown up–thanks, in good part, to the Becky-Felix combo. That adds up to a lot of energy flying off these two. Having had the course of my own life dramatically altered by (despite all appearances) what turned out to be platonic friendships, the ending works FOR ME. Also, that Felix doesn’t convert convert works FOR ME.

Moriah, maybe Hale’s husband Dean’s rewriting of the final scene in the novel will appeal to you. (Scroll down)

If it were EFY, the actor would convert and be willing to be the “second husband.”

There was that and there was the ending that was actually written, both equally weighted in EFY-ness.

The book was built to end on your scenario. That was its internal logic, and it betrayed that at the last minute.

The end result FOR ME is that she betrayed the reader. And I will shut up now because I’ve wasted way too much time and energy on this topic.

I don’t know the genre well so I can’t comment on the uniquely Mormon ending — abstractly speaking, I’m all for uniquely Mormon endings. What was the internal logic of the novel driving towards?

It wasn’t until I read the whole book through then went back and reread it that I saw how much more tightly written those opening chapters are than they appeared to be at first encounter. For better or for worse, many of those strange and jarring details have reason to be there. For instance, the baby’s kicking really is a sign. That’s Sam in there, and later, he and Felix end up forming a nice bond–playing soccer. All kinds of connect-the-dot details are in those opening pages. If you can see them through your wincing.

As for the honesty factor–on her website, Shannon says that other than her husband she’s never had a close male friend. That might account for some of the strain the story’s authenticity bears. Still, some might say that for never having had such a bond her intuition on the matter runs toward the stunning side.

Mark: [Hale] is taking the book where she wants it to go.

That.

She screwed with the book’s internal logic to force a uniquely Mormon (dare I say EFY) ending.

As for teasing out this analysis–for whatever reasons, this is how we experienced the novel as we read it. Did we tap into the code? Maybe, but the read felt more direct than that.

And yeah, I understood about your … buttons. ;-)

I read the first twenty pages over my wife’s shoulder and agreed with her assessment — both of those pages and of the book — that the story is played with artifice instead of soul. It just didn’t feel honest.

But now that I’ve read an articulate and positive review, well, I still have the book.