Beach Read

On the drive home from the donut shop, Gus returns to their conversation about genres, stating that he has a “hard time with happy endings” (69). January asks him to clarify, and he explains that happy endings don’t align with his worldview and that no one has happy endings in real life. January argues against his stereotypical view of the romance genre and of women’s stories as a whole, feeling as though relenting to his point of view would be “the final straw: there’d be no getting back to myself, to believing in love and seeing the world and the people in it as pure, beautiful things—to loving writing” (70). January insinuates that Gus doesn’t believe in love, and he replies that he can get everything from a relationship in simple friendships. January shifts the topic to sex, and Gus replies that he doesn’t even need friendship for that. Gus shifts the topic to the fact that January refers to him as “Gus,” which he claims no one calls him except those who knew him before publishing. He then reveals that he remembers her and alludes to their night at the frat party.