i saw merritt tierce's love me back on a book riot post and due to its cover, i decided to check it out. you have to admit that the cover is quite intriguing, the neon lights, the sad yet hopefully sentiment. i must admit that i am pretty good about judging a book by its cover, because i enjoyed this work.
i had no idea what love me back was about, when i picked it up. i must have read a blurb about it on book riot but it didn't stick with me. upon skimming the inside sleeve, i discovered that it was about a single mother and her work at restaurants. i also learned that tierce was a "5 under 35" honoree and since i enjoyed molly antopol's the unamericans, i had high expectations for this work. unjustly so, i know, but i did.
i have to say that love me back was beautifully written, i could not put it down, even though at times i was disgusted by what i read. i guess that would be a testament to how well written it was. love me back is the story of marie, a young woman and her life working in restaurants. marie, a single mother, though her daughter did not live with her, worked in a handful of restaurants, and spent her free time (the little time that she had, since she worked all the time) drinking, doing drugs, and sleeping with everyone she met at work. marie's back story, which is revealed to us throughout the novel, and some details not until to the very end, was that marie's life was not so tragic, in fact, it was once filled with promise. she was yale bound, but a church trip to mexico when she was seventeen, resulted in her being pregnant. she ended up marrying the baby's father, and they lived together, but she ended up cheating on him, with everyone she worked with. he learned of her cheating, after marie gave him chlamydia, which she contracted from one of the three men she was sleeping with at the time. they separated, and he ended up with custody of the child.
throughout the novel, there are sections in which marie's stories are directed to her daughter, in which we learn of how her daughter came to be. in her narrative, marie constantly spoke of wanting to do better for her daughter, or loving her daughter so much but it's just words. in the end, one of marie's co-workers call her out on it, explaining that if they really wanted to be with their daughters, then they would be. marie does love her daughter, but she does lie to herself about wanting to be there for her. i am sure she loves her daughter, but as she admitted once she did not have that motherly instinct.
instead, the priorities in marie's life are drugs, alcohol, and sex. i was disgusted and appalled by marie's actions. i am all for one feeding their sexual appetite, but marie abused her body. she was on self-destruction mode, she did drugs and had sex to distract herself from the pain she felt. the pain that marie felt was never explicitly described, there didn't seem to be a specific source, other than life itself. sure, her parents were overbearing, but they were initially helpful with the child, and she ran away from them. her husband also seemed to be a good man, he was a responsible father and loved marie. yet, it wasn't enough for marie. i understand that yes, she lost her future, though never directly addressed, being unable to attend yale had to have had a negative effect on her. however, instead of making her daughter the focus of her life, she instead sought ways to destroy herself. and boy did she. and i can understand the substance abuse to a certain extend, even the cutting and burning makes sense given her dealing with pain, however i could not believe what she allowed herself and others to do to her body sexually. marie described situations in which she would do drugs and then let guys take turns with her in one night. her last escapade before the novel closed, she had sex with brothers, in a moving truck?!?!? it was disgusting to read about, and i couldn't imagine how someone can allow that to happen to themselves. and i guess the frustrating part was that marie was better than that. she was smart, but made bad decisions. there was a handful of times in which she got herself clean, normally motivated by a man, but still she could clean. she could have escaped the life she had but continue to life it. it was a very dark place that marie was in and i am grateful that i did not understand her.
and in all honesty, i am not sure what to take away from this other then life is suffering. and sometimes life deals you a shitty hand and instead of trying to make the best of it, you can just say fuck it and do what you want.
regardless, of my approval of marie's life, i do approve of tierce. she is an amazing writer and i love forward to reading more from her.
oh and before i close i just have to add. there was a part in which marie discussed how sometimes she will judge customers. how they will come in, in jeans and order soft drinks and she thinks that there are going to waste her night and tip her poorly. however, they end up asking for a bottle of champagne and wine and the next thing she knows they are leaving her a big tip. this made me laugh because i feel like this happens to my friend larry and i when we go out to dinner. he is a gm and is limited on his days off and sometimes we will go out to lunch or dinner and he will wear a sweatshirt and i look like i'm twelve. and i'm pretty sure people are like why are these kids wasting my time. and then we start ordering and it's majority of the menu and the servers realizes that we are going to get a good tip and that server's demeanor towards us totally changes. lol
