{"id":3270,"date":"2017-06-16T17:17:14","date_gmt":"2017-06-16T11:47:14","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/fableandi.com\/?p=3270"},"modified":"2024-02-03T11:24:11","modified_gmt":"2024-02-03T05:54:11","slug":"answers-catherine-lacey","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.thebooksatchel.com\/answers-catherine-lacey\/","title":{"rendered":"The Answers by Catherine Lacey – The Girlfriend Experiment for Love"},"content":{"rendered":"
What if you can divide the various tasks that define one girlfriend among many? Would such a collection of girlfriends give you the ultimate perfect girlfriend?<\/p>\n
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The blurb of The Answers<\/em> would grab anyone\u2019s attention. It is the story of an egoistic actor named Kurt Sky who wants to measure and quantify romantic love. He and his assistant, Matheson, are torch bearers of the \u2018Girlfriend Experiment\u2019 where a group of highly paid women are entrusted with a single responsibility and together they make up the final perfect girlfriend. So there is an Emotional girlfriend (to give emotional support), an Anger girlfriend (who vents out her anger), a Mundane girlfriend (who stares into space), a Maternity girlfriend (who cooks and does chores) and so on.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n Mary has a mysterious ailment and is undergoing a treatment called Pneuma Adaptive Kinesthesia, PAKing for short, that involves think crystals and paired yoga in dark rooms and is outrageously expensive. A quick look for a secondary source of income leads her to Matheson and after a series of bizzare interviews, Mary is appointed as the Emotional Girlfriend. The Girlfriends are constantly monitored by scientists, including their heart beats and stress levels and they are given pre-planned time slots to be with Kurt, much like a regular job. Each girlfriend is given a handbook and under no circumstances is she allowed to cross boundaries. For eg: If the plants in the house need watering, an Emotional Girlfriend can get fired if she waters them because that is the duty of the Maternal Girlfriend. Being the Emotional Girlfriend, Mary is required to maintain eye contact, give reassuring touches on the arm and listen attentively. As the \u2018work\u2019 progresses, they exchange keys and even have an \u2018I love you\u2019 session. Kurt seems to get attracted to her and the boundaries between them seem thin enough to cross. However Mary is stuck between her true feelings, Kurt and the other girlfriends.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n I was enthralled by this novel and found it to be both engaging and entertaining. The characters are interesting and the writing keeps the reader on the edge thinking \u2018What is going to happen next?\u2019<\/p>\n <\/p>\n