Summary of Jeannie Vanasco's Things We Didn't Talk About When I Was a Girl

Please note: This is a companion version & not the original book.

Sample Book Insights:

#1 I had to find a way to protect my former friend’s identity, so I decided to use a pseudonym. I combed a naming dictionary for some rough translation of friend, and landed on Aldwin: old friend. I pictured a knight, an eleventh-century Norman invader, a sorcerer in a fantasy novel, a president of a Martha’s Vineyard men’s club, and a child of artfully tattooed parents.

#2 I had a friend, Mark, who was a mechanic. I told him that someday he would become a famous engineer. I was sure that he would discover a complicated formula that high school students would write on their wrists before exams. But I couldn’t hate him.

#3 It is harder to say no in person than over email or over the phone. I want to include Mark in the book, but I’m not sure if he will agree to be included. If he says no, I’ll do it anyway.

#4 If he says yes, I won’t thank him. I won’t tell him that everything is okay between us. I won’t comfort him. I am assuming he’ll need comforting. I’ll ask him: Do you still think about what happened. Is it the reason you dropped out of college. Did you ever tell anyone.