I'd like to thank Simon & Schuster for sending me an ARC copy of this book in exchange for an honest review!

A large portion of the story is dedicated to Lou's depression and anxiety and how that makes her interpret the world around her even when those interpretations aren't true. She is a self loathing character who holds everyone at arms length and uses rudeness as a way to keep them there. She's not a likable character per say but I did she where she was coming from and found her to be an interesting/dynamic character. The literal definition of high school is jumping through arbitrary hoops. Grades and tests and placement exams. Numbers that will mean absolutely nothing in a year. But the University of Southern California has been my dream since freshman year, when I built my first computer. Since I fell in love with computers and coding and video games like my favorite MMORPG, Realm of the Ravager. USC has one of the—if not the—best computer science programs in the world for video games. They even offer a BS in Computer Science Games. Why would I go anywhere else? How does reading parts of the story through the perspective of Julia, Martha, and Burton impact your reading of this story? Why do you think this story is titled “Pond”? The last third of the book illustrated love in the form of sex. Therapy in the form of sex. Transcendence in the form of sex. Apology in the form of sex. This normally would not bother me, but between Regan and Aldo, there was sex, obsession, co-dependence and very little else. Do they really love each other? I honestly cannot tell. This book was an incoherent mess (intentional I know) that deserves an incoherent mess of a review. Here we go.How is the process of writing a novel different from that of writing short stories? Do you prefer one over the other? Marisa Silver’s novel The God of War, earned great acclaim and was a finalist for the Los Angeles Times Book Prize. Read it as well, and discuss the differences in her style and language. Is her writing different in the novel than it was in short stories?

Alone with You is full of dysfunctional relationships, affairs, and cheating. Some characters choose to stay with their partner, and some leave. In “Pond,” Burton muses about “how easy it was to flee from love, about the disaster of choosing loneliness,” (p. 63). In “Leap,” Sheila realizes that “it was possible to be okay and not okay at the same time, that a thing – a dog, say, or love – could only exist alongside the possibility of its absence,” (p. 100). Discuss a few of the couples in the novel, and examine the reasons for their choices. Who do you think ends up happiest?Where’s your wife?” she said, imagining that the man had forbidden his wife to come this time, that he had decided that her presence was what stood in the way of their getting a child. For some reason, she believed him. She was sure that he had all the information: perhaps his wife had had enough of his meanness; perhaps she had a lover; maybe she didn’t like the fact that he was the kind of man who cared about fashion. Vivian believed that he understood the facts, but that, still, he didn’t know. If you’re looking for a book you will want to talk about for a long time (and have plenty of people to talk to about it), The Atlas Six is it.” — Buzzfeed

PDF / EPUB File Name: Alone_With_You_in_the_Ether_-_Olivie_Blake.pdf, Alone_With_You_in_the_Ether_-_Olivie_Blake.epub You started out writing and directing films. What made you decide to go to graduate school and switch to writing short stories and novels? Do you ever see yourself returning to screenwriting and/or directing? You really think community service”—I don’t bother hiding the derision in my voice—“will help my application stand out?” I stare at the handout so intently, I’m amazed it doesn’t burst into flames. It’s the same with a character in a story. I start with a tiny shred of information about a character, then I write scenes, give her words, decide if those words feel right. Once I’ve found her language, the way she speaks, then I’m beginning to know her better. I throw action in her way so she has to respond, to behave, and then I learn even more. And all the while, I’m shaping and reshaping the character so that she becomes palpable. I always remember that there is no objective “truth” about any character. A person might have a mythology about him or herself that serves a certain emotional need. And characters are often revealed through other’s perspectives, and those perspectives are filtered through the emotions and desires of that other person. It’s complicated!In the title story, “Alone With You,” Marie feels the need to leave those she loves in the face of her illness. Why is she so against letting her family care for her? Do you agree with her thought that “It was only that they had discovered that they needed to look away from one another to find their futures,” (p. 164)? In each story, discuss the character’s detachment from each other, and from themselves. Is this a defense mechanism, or a character trait? Which protagonist has the greatest sense of self, and why? There was a right answer to this question and many, many wrong ones. This question, much like quantum groups, did not get any easier the more times Aldo was asked. The more times he ran the scenarios, in fact, the more the variables changed. How was he feeling? He had been bad before. He would be bad again. It would cycle and fluctuate the same way the weather would. It would rain in two weeks, he thought.