He said, "People wait their whole lives for the kind of happiness we have.

I hate weddings,' she says. 'They make me feel so unmarried. Actually, even brushing my teeth makes me feel unmarried.

You don't need a reason to forgive... If you want to go on with someone, that is what you do.

He tried to smile, but it was just a shape his mouth made.

The writing is clean. I really wouldn't have changed a word. Most of it is true, too, except that the hero quits drinking and the girl grows up. On the last page, the couple gets married, which is a nice way for a love story to end.

But then you hear that he can't hear you, you see that he can't see you. You are not here--and you haven't even died yet. You see yourself through his eyes, as The Generic Woman, the skirted symbol on the ladies' room door.

You sense that he's dangerous but don't now why - and wonder if it's because he makes you feel safer than you've ever felt.