Published by Little, Brown Books for Young Readers
Published: April 15th 2014
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Lucy and Owen meet somewhere between the tenth and eleventh floors of a New York City apartment building, on an elevator rendered useless by a citywide blackout. After they're rescued, they spend a single night together, wandering the darkened streets and marveling at the rare appearance of stars above Manhattan. But once the power is restored, so is reality. Lucy soon moves to Edinburgh with her parents, while Owen heads out west with his father.
Lucy and Owen's relationship plays out across the globe as they stay in touch through postcards, occasional e-mails, and -- finally -- a reunion in the city where they first met.
I received this book for free in exchange for an honest review. This does not affect my opinion of the book or the content of my review.
This book was cute. It wasn’t on the level of Smith’s other book The Statistical Probability of Love at First Sight, but it was better than This Is What Happy Looks Like. But although I enjoyed it, I wouldn’t say I was over the moon about it. I liked Owen and Lucy a lot. They had a great vibe when they were together, but the problem was, they weren’t together all that much which made reading this loose some of the good feels.
The Geography of You and Me is the story of Lucy and Owen. Lucy is a New York native. She lives in Manhattan, goes to a private school, has parents that travel the world leaving her home alone. Then there is Owen. He is new to the city and to Lucy’s building. His mother passed away and his dad got a job as the super in the building. One night the lights go out up the eastern seaboard and Lucy and Owen get trapped in an elevator. They spend one night together in NYC and are then thrust apart by the constant motion of life. They keep in touch, but something seems to always be unsettled. But when they both end up in the same place at the same time, they have the chance to get it right. The only question that remains is how.
Like I said, I really enjoyed this story, but I think I could have potentially loved it if there was more interaction between Lucy and Owen. Without that connection it seemed like this book was just two stories of self-discovery, of growing up. I never felt the investment in the relationship or even in the friendship. When I read the description I just expected there to be more correspondence between the two of them as they went in two different directions and sadly there wasn’t. I did enjoy seeing Lucy get closer with her mother, as I thought her parents were horrible at points. And I liked seeing how Owen and his dad grieved in their own way over the terrible loss they suffered. Both of those side stories were great. But the lack of Lucy and Owen as a ‘couple’ just took away from the whole thing for me.
Basically The Geography of You and Me was a quick read that kept me interested and I liked, but didn’t end up loving like I expected. It made up for my feelings on Smith’s last book, but never reached the greatness of Statistical. Lucy and Owen were great characters that were a joy to see grown and change. I would recommend this book if you are a Smith fan for sure.
Like you I think this story could have been so much better if the two main characters spent more time together. There was just no time to see what they’d be like as a couple or even friends so it was hard to care about them getting together.