Jessica Salamanca
Appearances
Radio Atlantic
The Books We Read in High School (Part 2)
The book that I read in high school that stuck with me the most is a separate piece. More specifically, the character Gene Forrester, who is an extremely flawed person. He's a teenager at this prep school in New England. And he admires and hates his best friend, Finney, so much that he sabotages him so that Finney can't compete in these great games. I think it was the Olympics.
Radio Atlantic
The Books We Read in High School (Part 2)
And it resonated with me so much because in high school, I was such a loser. And all my friends were so much prettier, smarter, more popular than me. And I just wanted to be them so bad. that inside I thought, what if I sabotaged them? Would it make me better? And obviously, it doesn't make him any better. Sabotaging his friend doesn't do anything to help his social standing.
Radio Atlantic
The Books We Read in High School (Part 2)
And I think it's something that a lot of people deal with as they grow up, and especially as they go through college or their 20s, where success is seen as a zero-sum game. And Jean kind of realizes that these things are not zero-sum games. Happiness is not a zero-sum game. Just because one person is happy and successful doesn't mean that you can't be happy and successful.
Radio Atlantic
The Books We Read in High School (Part 2)
And that's something that I have to keep within myself as we get older and there's people that compare themselves to others, especially with social media and the constant barrage of people putting their highlight reels of their life on display. I think it's a really great book. It was a short book, but I think it was a really powerful book for me.