Young Writers Society

Recently, I read Tangled Up in Daydreams by Rebecca Bloom; my classmate knows that I read almost anything so she lent me her book. I loved the book the moment I read the first words--it was full of imagery and cliches, of ups and downs in a tangled web of daydreams and promises. The story centers on Molly, an L.A. salesgirl who has a secret love for art, particularly in painting. She falls in love at first sight with Liam, a rocker, when they meet at a local bar, and a childish type of fairytale soon develops between them. It was the perfect type of relationship until Liam starts screwing up with other girls and becomes heavily influenced by drugs and alcohol. Now Molly tries her best to understand Liam's situation, her boyfriend being a famous rocker, and Liam always promises to change, but then lefts Molly with his broken promises. Fed up with abuse verbally and physically, Molly returns to her parents' house to reinvent herself and to forget Liam for a while. Her family welcomes her, and Molly is determined never to return to Liam again. But then she was shocked by something she never expected--a bond that will tie her to Liam forever. On most days, she daydreams of him: going back to the times they were together, having fun and loving one another (I think that's the reason why the book was titled 'Tangled Up in Daydreams'), and having promises and exchanging sweet nothings to one another. In the end, Molly makes up her mind to see Liam for the last time, to ask him to let go of her, but she discovers that Liam has made a turn for the good and made one final promise to set everything straight. Will Molly ever believe him again?

However, when I read the book, there are other ideas that contradicted one another. Molly proved to be a tough girl living in L.A. supporting her own self, and yet why did she suddenly break down and returned to Idaho to her family? Is this a sign of weakness? Also, I kinda find Liam's character a bit disturbing. He seems like a typical person, anyway--he's okay, he screws up, he promises to change, then breaks his promise--that I can't seem to understand why Molly ever wanted to stay with him. She only left when she got depressed and abused. Why had she waited that long?

Of course there are other sides to the story too. They loved each other, so maybe that's the reason why it had become hard for Molly to let go and she just chose to tolerate Liam's behavior. They had lots of fights and kiss-and-make-up scenarios, because as I said earlier, the story was mostly in flashback. There are times when you want to get mad at Liam for being uncaring, or at Molly for being so naive, but then as you read on you realize that in spite of the bad times, there are still good things behind and in store for them.

If you have time, you can check this book Tangled Up in Daydreams by Rebecca Bloom.