Worthy
by Catherine Ryan Hyde
“Nothing’s a onetime thing. Not in relationships. Everything is the tip of the iceberg. Everything points to something much bigger floating down where you can’t see.”
This isn’t the main focus of Catherine Ryan Hyde’s novel Worthy, but I absolutely love the quote. A woman is complaining about her fiancé’s insensitive behavior, but she quickly suggests it might just be a “onetime thing”; her friend corrects her with incredibly wise words. Think back on all your past relationships. Isn’t it true that the first one or two imperfections turned into consistent problems? If more people really took those words to heart, breakups would be far less painful because they’d occur early on.
But onto the story. It fits perfectly into the model of Hyde’s books. If you like her style, you’ll like this one. There’s a damaged boy, a loyal dog, and an adult who shows kindness despite her own struggles. At the start, a widower and his young son are walking towards their local diner. He has a crush on one of the waitresses there, but despite their mutual attraction, nothing has happened. After they kiss for the first time, there’s a freak accident that prevents their relationship from progressing. (No spoilers here, folks!)
Many years later, the waitress is ensconced in middle age. She never married, carrying the love for the widower in her heart all this time. She finally agrees to marry her longtime loser boyfriend, but everyone (including the readers) can see what a bad person he is. Jealous of the love she shows her dog, he takes the dog for a ride and drops him off in the middle of the snow. An emotionally stunted young man sees the incident and rescues the dog (yes, this is the classic Hyde formula), but will the woman ever find out what happened?
There’s quite a bit of sadness in this story, but it still manages to be heartwarming and meaningful. I’ve probably read six or seven of her novels, and Worthy is one of her better ones. If you like this one, check out a similar story but with less tragedy, Hyde’s Seven Perfect Things.
This isn’t the main focus of Catherine Ryan Hyde’s novel Worthy, but I absolutely love the quote. A woman is complaining about her fiancé’s insensitive behavior, but she quickly suggests it might just be a “onetime thing”; her friend corrects her with incredibly wise words. Think back on all your past relationships. Isn’t it true that the first one or two imperfections turned into consistent problems? If more people really took those words to heart, breakups would be far less painful because they’d occur early on.
But onto the story. It fits perfectly into the model of Hyde’s books. If you like her style, you’ll like this one. There’s a damaged boy, a loyal dog, and an adult who shows kindness despite her own struggles. At the start, a widower and his young son are walking towards their local diner. He has a crush on one of the waitresses there, but despite their mutual attraction, nothing has happened. After they kiss for the first time, there’s a freak accident that prevents their relationship from progressing. (No spoilers here, folks!)
Many years later, the waitress is ensconced in middle age. She never married, carrying the love for the widower in her heart all this time. She finally agrees to marry her longtime loser boyfriend, but everyone (including the readers) can see what a bad person he is. Jealous of the love she shows her dog, he takes the dog for a ride and drops him off in the middle of the snow. An emotionally stunted young man sees the incident and rescues the dog (yes, this is the classic Hyde formula), but will the woman ever find out what happened?
There’s quite a bit of sadness in this story, but it still manages to be heartwarming and meaningful. I’ve probably read six or seven of her novels, and Worthy is one of her better ones. If you like this one, check out a similar story but with less tragedy, Hyde’s Seven Perfect Things.