The Souvenir Museum

Yesterday I read a romance novel about two identical twins who switch places and (probably not really spoilers for anyone who reads a lot of romance novels) end up with new, more satisfying jobs and with new, more satisfying relationships. Complete Hallmark Channel stuff.

It is satisfying. But, after a bit of reflection, not.

Today I finished The Souvenir Museum. In The Souvenir Museum, relationships go wildly asunder, life-changing events arise out of nowhere and shake our worlds, people are here and then people are gone. You know, real life.

And yet it, too, is oddly satisfying. It sits with you. This is how things are. Really.

One a pop of candy. The other a glass of French wine.