In Some Other World, Maybe: A Novel
Shari Goldhagen
Language: English
Pages: 288
ISBN: 1250087198
Format: PDF / Kindle (mobi) / ePub
In December 1992, three groups of teenagers head to the theater to see the movie version of the famed Eons & Empires comic books. For Adam it's a last ditch effort to connect with something (actually, someone, the girl he's had a crush on for years) in his sleepy Florida town before he leaves for good. Passionate fan Sharon skips school in Cincinnati so she can fully appreciate the flick without interruption from her vapid almost-friends, a seemingly silly indiscretion with shocking consequences. And in suburban Chicago, Phoebe and Ollie simply want to have a nice first date and maybe fool around in the dark, if everyone they know could just stop getting in the way.
Over the next two decades, these unforgettable characters criss-cross the globe, becoming entwined by friendship, sex, ambition, fame and tragedy. A razor-sharp, darkly comic page-turner, In Some Other World, Maybe sheds light on what it means to grow up in modern America.
a nervous wave toward Adam, and Cole is gone. For a severed second, Phoebe looks after him, something hard to read on her face. She turns to Adam. “We need to get your leg up.” The house is small but cozy, with unique built-in storage spaces and wood trim, and there’s a postage-stamp backyard with a deck and a huge old tree. Baby still in arms, Phoebe helps Adam get situated on one patio chair, his ankle elevated on another. “Can you take her for a sec?” she says, handing him her daughter.
until you heard the rumble of an airplane outside—your father, the Piper Saratoga when you were seven—and went limp before even entering her. “No worries, sweetie,” she said, kissing your shoulder and stroking your red hair. “It’ll be better next time.” It was. Afterward, she put her mouth on your stomach and blew out air, lips vibrating against your skin. And the two of you were happy ordering Thai food and watching classic movies on the couch. Happy going with Phoebe to her brother’s track
was to see you. At her urging, you slid into the booth beside her, and the two of you talked until the bar closed and shards of gold light started to streak the sky. Finally, you drove her home in her father’s car, and she took you upstairs, where you talked more in her gauzy white bedroom that looked the same as it had in high school. She told you about the commercial she did for a used-car dealership in Orange County, and you told her about your work with Advantage Electric and the undergrad
pretend you haven’t wanted this for four years.” Then a sharp, searing moment of pain and clarity, when Cecily kneed him in the groin. “I don’t know what your deal is, Z,” she said. “But you’re being a total douchebag.” Adam likes to think he apologized, but he’s reasonably certain he just stood there, doubled over and panting. Things after that are hazy again: Cecily taking his keys and saying something about him being too sloshed to drive. Possibly puking in a puddle outside the bar. A
so she can have your bed, but the two of you have actually been having a pretty good time. Tomorrow you promised to take her to Dark Tower Comics. You’re gathering your coats when Karen points to the muted television mounted on the wall, where a plane is floating on a river surrounded by emergency boats. “Turn it up,” your father says, invigorated and alive. In silence the four of you listen to the newscaster explain how the pilot ditched the crippled plane in the Hudson and miraculously