I Think I Love You

I Think I Love You by Allison Pearson
Adult Fiction

The first half of this novel mostly takes place in the 1970s in Wales. It features Petra, a cello-playing 13-year-old girl who is obsessed with David Cassidy. She and her friend Sharon spend hours pouring over a fan magazine about David Cassidy, fantasize about becoming Mrs David Cassidy and smooch with the posters of their idol that Sharon has on her wall. In addition, there is the usual angst and social awkwardness that accompanies growing up. The fan magazine that the girls read is actually written, for the most part, by William Finn, a young English major graduate, desperate for a job, any job--the magazine has little, if any, actual relationship with the actual David Cassidy.

Jump ahead 25 years and Petra is cleaning out her mother's closet after her death. She finds a letter addressed to herself from the 1970s. It turns out that Petra had won a chance to meet with David Cassidy all those years ago, but her mother had hid the letter from her. Not thinking clearly, after all, her husband just left her and her mother just died, she phones the now defunct fan magazine and demands to meet with David Casssidy. Dreams, in fact, do come true--but not always in the manner in which one originally dreamed them.

At first, I didn't really care for this title. As a child I liked certain celebrities, but I never never ever had an obsession like Petra's. I found it very difficult to relate to her obsession, and quite frankly, I really just didn't care. I found the book thoroughly enjoyable, however, when we picked up Petra's life as an adult. Throughout the book, Petra was a likable character, but as an adult I found her interesting.