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Separation Anxiety
An entertaining new novel by the author of Coffee & Kung Fu explores the mysteries of friendship and love in the story of Wichita Gray, a young woman who does some serious thinking about what makes a man a friend or a man a lover after "breaking up" with her lifelong friend, Jonah. Original.
256 pages, Paperback
First published June 1, 2004
1 person is currently reading
69 people want to read
About the author
Karen Brichoux
5 books13 followersThe daughter of American missionaries, I was born and raised in Southeast Asia. Most of my childhood was spent reading or forcing the long-suffering family pets to act out the plots of books I'd recently read.
In college, everything interested me, and I could never answer the question “What do you want to be?” without a measure of sarcasm over the idea that “being” something was somehow equated with “doing” something. Still, guidance tests had revealed a natural predilection for verbal and mechanical skills, which had caused my high school counselor to suggest English literature or, if that didn’t interest me, perhaps becoming a car mechanic. Oddly, no one suggested mechanical engineering, probably because I had managed to fail Algebra I the first time I took it.
After stints as a secondary education major, a theater major, and a humanities major, I graduated with a degree in English literature. Still interested in everything, I went on to graduate school for an MA in European history, where I focused on the social, political, and religious history of twelfth- and thirteenth-century France.
While working toward a PhD in European history with a concentration in nineteenth-century social/political history combined with political, labor, and feminist theory, I began the painful process of re-examining what really interested me (beyond the label “everything”). I had been writing stories all my life, but I’d always pictured authors as reclusive, frightened, bitter people. Realizing that the description also applied to PhD students, I abandoned my prejudice against being an author and wrote my first book. I naively assumed that awards and editor requests meant I was going to be published by tomorrow or, at worst, the day after. I left graduate school and began writing full time, even when it became obvious I was not going to be a published author tomorrow or even next week. Three years later, Coffee & Kung Fu was published by Penguin Press.
Writing is, in many ways, a reversion to childhood. I still spend most of my time reading and living in the world of my imagination, but the family pets are happy to report that I no longer enlist their services in acting out plots.
In college, everything interested me, and I could never answer the question “What do you want to be?” without a measure of sarcasm over the idea that “being” something was somehow equated with “doing” something. Still, guidance tests had revealed a natural predilection for verbal and mechanical skills, which had caused my high school counselor to suggest English literature or, if that didn’t interest me, perhaps becoming a car mechanic. Oddly, no one suggested mechanical engineering, probably because I had managed to fail Algebra I the first time I took it.
After stints as a secondary education major, a theater major, and a humanities major, I graduated with a degree in English literature. Still interested in everything, I went on to graduate school for an MA in European history, where I focused on the social, political, and religious history of twelfth- and thirteenth-century France.
While working toward a PhD in European history with a concentration in nineteenth-century social/political history combined with political, labor, and feminist theory, I began the painful process of re-examining what really interested me (beyond the label “everything”). I had been writing stories all my life, but I’d always pictured authors as reclusive, frightened, bitter people. Realizing that the description also applied to PhD students, I abandoned my prejudice against being an author and wrote my first book. I naively assumed that awards and editor requests meant I was going to be published by tomorrow or, at worst, the day after. I left graduate school and began writing full time, even when it became obvious I was not going to be a published author tomorrow or even next week. Three years later, Coffee & Kung Fu was published by Penguin Press.
Writing is, in many ways, a reversion to childhood. I still spend most of my time reading and living in the world of my imagination, but the family pets are happy to report that I no longer enlist their services in acting out plots.
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Displaying 1 - 9 of 9 reviews
July 8, 2019
This is a fairly fast read, but it jumps around between past and present so much that it was starting to annoy me.
January 11, 2022
Quick, easy read.
Wichita and Jonah have been friends forever. Wichita wants to try and see if she can be her own person without her best friend, only to realize that Jonah is so intertwined with her and she’s irrevocably in love with him that they aren’t apart for long.
Wichita grew up with a mother who was depressed and tried to control her life. The two don’t understand or appreciate each other until Wichita finds out that her mother has a loss from her past that haunts her every day life.
The constant back and forth between past and present was a bit dizzying, but okay in the end. The storyline was also predictable.
Wichita and Jonah have been friends forever. Wichita wants to try and see if she can be her own person without her best friend, only to realize that Jonah is so intertwined with her and she’s irrevocably in love with him that they aren’t apart for long.
Wichita grew up with a mother who was depressed and tried to control her life. The two don’t understand or appreciate each other until Wichita finds out that her mother has a loss from her past that haunts her every day life.
The constant back and forth between past and present was a bit dizzying, but okay in the end. The storyline was also predictable.
March 7, 2017
Interesting book. I was expecting something very light and fluffy, and the book surprised me by having some depth.
June 16, 2007
i enjoyed this book. reading something that doesn't require too much thinking once in a while is always a good change. It had a good story line and the flashbacks were used effectively throughout the chapters.
April 16, 2009
amazing
Currently reading
April 17, 2009I like it so far, the girl is kind of giving me whiplash because she is all over the place but i like it.
February 4, 2012
Good funny, light reading for adults.
Want to read
May 28, 2013I registered a book at BookCrossing.com!
http://www.BookCrossing.com/journal/11899772
http://www.BookCrossing.com/journal/11899772
February 6, 2014
I hate every character for different reasons and all the flashbacks are a pain to follow
Displaying 1 - 9 of 9 reviews