Leigh Stein
Fiction
Despite the odd cover, I really wanted to like this book. I really, really did. The writing was good, the dialogue was funny. If only the main character hadn’t been so unsympathetic.
The Fallback Plan is the story of Esther. She’s just graduated from Northwestern with a theater degree and has moved back home, in with her parents, while she tries to figure out what she wants to do with her life and find a job. I could totally relate to that part, so I quite liked Esther at first. She's witty, funny, and a dreamer, in spite of the fact that she's been battling depression for a long time. Then her mom gets her a job babysitting a neighbor girl during the day while the girl’s mother works and soon Esther finds herself with a purpose, all right—but not a good one.
A big part of the story was Esther’s depression. Okay, I get that, I realize how hard depression can be on a person. But after a couple of truly heinous romantic choices, I wanted to smack Esther upside the head. She had no ambition at all, either. Intercut between normal chapters were slivers of a screenplay (even though it wasn’t in screenplay form, another irritation) about pandas that Esther decided to start writing on a whimsy. That was distracting and annoying. Then I got to the end and I closed the book in a rage. I hate, hate, hate books that end open-ended. In The Fallback Plan’s case, there’s a Fourth of July party thrown by Esther’s parents and Esther leaves the party and then that’s the end. So we have no idea if she finds a new job, moves out, or meets a nice guy. Ugh, what a waste of time.
Despite Leigh Stein’s good writing, I would not recommend this book. There are plenty of better ones about struggling college grads.
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