My Fake Levantine Romance Response

Upon finishing reading My Fake Laventine Romance for the first time, I audibly commented aloud to my empty room: “Wow, I just read a great story”.

I realized that the reason why I am so attracted to Dorris’s story is because she articulates herself in such a way that I feel she is speaking to me directly. She included the perfect amount of specific details, yet didn’t overwhelm me with information and result in me getting distracted—something that detracted from my experience reading Nativity, Caucasian by Allen Gurganus. She mentioned comparing her relationship to the wisdom of Yahoo! Answers, which is something I have been known to be guilty of with Seventeen Magazine. Knowing my not-quite-successful track record with men, I felt especially drawn to Dorris and her desperation to seek explanation from a nonspecific and/or credible source for relationship advice.

Additionally, I felt that I could easily empathize with Dorris when she described meeting Sami’s family for the first time: “His older sister had dark skin and startling green eyes, her head covered as she comforted a screaming baby. His father passed around a plate of watermelon, and his mother asked me what part of Russia I was from. I told her I was American.” Even after reading this quote for the fifth time, I feel chills down my spine for it is palpable how awkward this meeting must have been. From the screaming baby to the mother mistaking Dorris as Russian, the situation vents uncomfortable energy.  

Aside from My Fake Levantine Romance being incredibly relatable to (I would imagine) most younger women, Dorris’s style and dialogue use contributes to the success of the story. Her word choice is stellar in the sense that she is able to say a lot with just a few words. Rather than going into a long description of Sami and the environment in which the two of them met, she keeps it concise and introduces the beginning of their relationship through a few spoken words of dialogue: “Put in your number”. Dorris says more with less, thereby allowing the story to be easily comprehended and enjoyed.

Question: How do you feel about the amount of detail Dorris includes in her story? Would her story have been better if we were let in on the rich details of their relationship, or is it effective the way it’s published?