Just Jennifer

Read Bottom Up by Neel Shah and Skye Chatham

Girl meets boy.  Boy e-mails girl.  Girl and boy date.  Girl e-mails best friend.  Boy e-mails best friend. Girl misunderstands boys e-mail and ignores succeeding e-mails.  Such is dating in the electronic age, almost communication by proxy, if you will. Taking the epistolary novel to a whole new level Read Bottom Up chronicles the urban relationship of Elliott and Madeline, their communications with each other and the often unseen parts of relationships, the conversations (e-mails) between best friends (Madeline and Emily, Elliott and David) where the relationship is dissected and all the insecurities, hurt and anxieties surface.  In writing this book, Shah wrote all the male parts and Chatham the female, neither seeing the “behind the scenes” dynamics between the two women or two men.  With no traditional narrative, the book is almost entirely character driven; everything that is learned is learned through e-mails.  This is a quick, fast-paced read with a minimum of details, yet you will somehow become invested in these characters, their relationships and the bittersweet, somewhat unexpected ending.