The One

this is a long overdue love letter for the selection series and america singer..

when i was 10 life was heavy. i was never really happy, i never really felt the joy of life as other people may have felt it, and this un-happiness remains to this day, but i'm glad that i have a hobby (more like an addiction tbh) that allows me an escape, even if brief, from life.

i bought this book from a local indonesian bookstore chain, gramedia. i only bought it because of the cover. yes, i was shallow, but there was something about the all-white cover and audrey hollister's eyes that really pulled 10-year-old-me to this book.

alas, that was how my love and passion for reading started. the selection series. i stayed up all night reading the one, and i remember finishing it in only 3 hours. i was surprised that i read it so fast. i was even more surprised over the fact that i was sobbing for maxon and america; full blown, snot ridden sobbing. you see, i started this series with the one and not the selection or the elite so i had no background, no context to work with, but the feelings, emotions, love & words in this book were so raw that i was touched despite not having read the previous 2 books.

america, you are not the perfect character. sometimes i want to pull you out from the pages and give you a good smacking—you have a good man there, maxon, please don't waste your time with the brute who broke up with you because he didn't feel like he was good enough for you. but your resilience, and rebellion shaped me as a child, and i needed those traits.

maxon, you are an angel. lowkey i want to name my son (if i ever have one) after you and i probably will, if my husband allows for it. your patience and “epitome of everything good” made 10 year old me fall in love with you and here i am, 10 years later at the old age of 20 still in love with you, bawling over your words, wanting to give you a hug.

to kiera cass: i hope you see this.. thank you for creating this world. thank you. (p.s. i stand by my initial opinion that aspen & celeste should've been end game! i think of celeste all the time, no joke, from the first time i've read this book; so 10 years of thinking of celeste newsome and always being kind to people even if they're being book 1 & book 2 celeste to you)

this is my love letter for the selection, and i just want to further express again my gratitude for this series and its domino-effect into me loving reading.

love,
the 10-year-old teresa marianne who sat on her bed clutching her copy of the one to her chest crying & wanting a love like maxon & america's so that maybe life would be, even if only a little, lighter.