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Description edit
“I’ve left some clues for you. If you want them, turn the page. If you don’t, put the book back on the shelf, please.” So begins the latest whirlwind romance from the bestselling authors of Nick & Norah’s Infinite Playlist. Lily has left a red notebook full of challenges on a favorite... read more
Ridiculously Simplified Synopsis edit
Summary edit
Two sixteen-year-olds (Lily and Dash), find themselves virtually alone for the holidays because of some family situations. Lily's brother comes up with an ideal project for his sister to help her meet someone and to keep her out of his way while their parents are out of town. A red Moleskine... read more (warning: may contain spoilers)
Characters/People edit
- Dash: One of the two main characters. Dash is a teenage boy living in New York. He has a quirky sense of humor along with an unfathomable love with the OED (Oxford English Dictionary).
- Lily: Lily is one of the main characters. She is a teenage girl who is fascinated by everything and loves almost everything as well. She is a very good girl, but the dares in the red moleskine get her into a bit of trouble. She works hard into finding the clues, and ultimately, Dash. Lily loves Christmas, animals, and books.
- Edgar Thibaud: A mutual "friend" of both Dash and Lily. He killed Lily's gerbil in 1st grade and gave her the nickname "Shrilly," (because she screamed) which stuck with her through middle school forcing her to transfer to a private high school.
- Boomer: Boomer (short for boomerang) is Dash's best friend. He is immature and doesn't think things through, but he cares about Dash. He helps his friend as he works his ways through the dares and the girl behind the notebook.
- Sofia: Sofia and Dash dated for four months prior to her moving to Spain. During their dating, she spoke very little English apparently, and Dash was tasked with fixing this. They didn't really break up, they just eased away from each other. During Sofia's time in Spain, Dash tried his best to keep up with her through e-mail and other modes of communication. However, they both knew when they were dating that they didn't exactly LOVE one another- they were just mutually fond of each other.
- Priya: Priya is Sophia's best friend, and one of Dash's friends. She sees Dash reading a rather explicit book in the Strand, and this is where we meet her character. At another point, she reveals that Sophia, Dash's lovely ex-girlfriend, was coming back from Spain for the holidays and invited both Dash and Boomer to a day-after-Christmas party at her house.
- Mark: Mark not only works at the Strand, he is also Lily's cousin. He is the one who delivers the Red Moleskine (the book of dares) back to Lily after Dash completes the first challenge
- Langston: Lily's older brother who is staying with her this Christmas. He is the one who got the red notebook started
- Grandpa: Lily's grandfather who knows everyone in the neighborhood. Very protective of his Lily-Bear and doesnt want her to get into trouble
- Snarly: The Muppet Lily designs as what she imagines Dash to look like
Quotes edit
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“…somewhere between a friend and acquaintance—a frequaintance, as it were.”
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“My brother, Langston, said, "Lily, you don't understand because you've never been in love."...And it's not entirely true that I've never been in love. I had a pet gerbil in first grade, Spazzy, whom I loved passionately.”
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“...Excuse me, madam, but I would really love to bed and muss you.... Are you perchance free this evening?”
Dash -
“In a field, I am the absence of field. In a crowd, I am the absence of crowd. In a dream, I am the absence of dream. But I don't want to live as an absence. I move to keep things whole. Because sometimes I feel drunk on positivity. Sometimes I feel amazement at the tangle of words and lives, and I want to be part of that tangle.”
Dash -
“That holiday, I mourned not only the loss of my gerbil but also that bizarre kind of innocence that kids have, believing they can always fit in.”
Lily -
“We believe in the wrong things . . . That's what frustrates me the most. Not the lack of belief, but belief in the wrong things. You want meaning? Well, the meanings are out there. We're just so damn good at reading them wrong.”
Dash -
“I didn't say a word, but I wasn't conscious of my silence. The sound of my own life, my own internal life, was all that I needed.”
Dash -
“Danger comes in many forms, I suppose. For some people, it might be jumping off a bridge or climbing impossible mountains. For others, it could be a tawdry love affair or telling off a mean-looking bus driver because he doesn't like to stop for noisy teenagers. It could be cheating at cards of eating a peanut even though you're allergic. For me, danger might be getting out from under the protective cloak of my family and venturing into the world more on my own, even though I don't know what - or who - awaits me.”
Lily -
“The exhaustion of living was just too much for me to talk any longer. . . And, yes, there was sadness in that. And anger. And confusion. And disappointment. All exhausting.”
Dash -
“Maybe everything I saw was all in me.”
Dash -
“But isn't this a dance? Isn't all of this a dance? Isn't that what we do with words? Isn't that what we do when we talk, when we spar, when we make plans or leave it to chance? Some of it's choreographed. Some of the steps have been done for ages. And the rest - the rest is spontaneous. The rest has to be decided on the floor, in the moment, before the music ends.”
Dash -
“I am attempting to write the story of my life. It wasn't so much about plot. It was much more about character.”
Dash -
“That's because you're interpreting it the wrong way. I don't mean it as a wistful, overdramatic declaration. I meant that the love I felt for him was huge and real, and, while painful, it forever changed me as a person, in the same way that being your brother reflects and changes how I evolve, and vice versa. The important people in our lives leave imprints. They may stay or go in the physical realm, but they are always there in your heart, because they helped form your heart.”
Langston -
“More than a few of the parents - especially the dads - gave me strange looks. I could see them doing the mental math - I was way too old to believe in Santa, but I was too young to be after thei children. So I was safe, if suspicious.”
Dash -
“Do bring Snarly Muppet. Or don't.”
Lily -
“"Well, well, well,” Santa said once the elf had retreated. “Come and sit on my lap, little boy.” This Santa’s beard was real, and so was his hair. He wasn’t fucking around. “I’m not really a little boy,” I pointed out. “Get on my lap, then, big boy.””
Dash, Santa -
“"Boomer, we're not in third grade anymore. You don't say, 'ooh...a girl!""What? You fucking her?""Okay, Boomer, you're right. I liked 'Ooh ... a girl!' much more than that. Let's stick with 'Ooh... a girl!"”
Dash, Boomer -
“That's what frustrates me the most. Not the lack of belief, but the belief in the wrong things. You want meaning? well, the meaning are out there. We're just so damn good at reading them wrong.”
Dash -
“Being alone has nothing to do with how many people are around”
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“"What's your name, young man?""Dash," I told her."Dash?""It's short for Dashiell," I explained."I never said it wasn't," she replied flatly”
Aunt Ida, Dash -
“"Why do girls always fall for guys with the attention span of drosophila?""What?""Fruit flies. Guys with the attention span of a fruit flies.""Because they're hot?""This," I told her, "is not the time for being truthful."”
Dash, Lily -
“"Driver, can you tell him I'm sorry.""The girl's sorry," the driver told me, with no shortage of sympathy shot my way in the review mirror”
Lily, taxi driver -
“"Did I ask your opinion?" Mark asked."No!" Boomer said. "But I don't mind that you didn't!"”
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“She went to take the notebook, but Boris beat her to it."Bad girl!" She chided."I'm pretty sure Boris is a boy," I said."Oh, I know," Mrs. Basil E. assured me. "I just like to keep him confused."”
Aunt Ida, Dash -
“"So even though it doesn't seem like anything's changed-""-things change all the time, mostly in little ways. That's that's how it goes, I guess."”
Sofia, Dash -
“The important people in our lives leave imprints. They may stay or go in the physical realm, but they are always there in your heart, because they helped form your heart. There’s no getting over that.”
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“I was attempting to write the story of my life. It wasn’t so much about plot. It was much more about character.”
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“A dream deferred is a dream denied.”
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“In a field, I am the absence of field. In a crowd, I am the absence of crowd. In a dream, I am the absence of dream. But I don’t want to live as an absence. I move to keep things whole. Because sometimes I feel drunk on positivity. Sometimes I feel amazement at the tangle of words and lives, and I want to be a part of that tangle.”
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“I had always felt that mittens were a few steps back on the evolutionary scale—why, I wondered, would we want to make ourselves into a less agile version of a lobster?”
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“Are you going to be playing for the pure thrill of unreluctant desire?”
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“In a field, I am the absence of field. In a crowd, I am the absence of crowd. In a dream, I am the absence of dream. But I don't want to live as an absence. I move to keep things whole. Because sometimes I feel drunk on positivity. Sometimes I feel amazement at the tangle of words and lives, and I want to be a part of that tangle. "Game over," you say, and I don't know which I take more exception to- the fact that you say that it's over, or the fact that you say it's a game. It's only over when one of us keeps the notebook for good. It's only a game if there is an absence of meaning. And we've already gone too far for that.””
Dash
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The important people in our lives leave imprints. They may stay or go in the physical realm, but they are always there in your heart, because they helped form your heart. There’s no getting over that.”
Highlighted by 363 Kindle customers -
I want to believe there is a somebody out there just for me. I want to believe that I exist to be there for that somebody.
Highlighted by 269 Kindle customers -
“I mean, what if love isn’t a yes-or-no question? It’s not either you’re in love or you’re not. I mean, aren’t there different levels? And maybe these things, like words and expectations and whatever, don’t go on top of the love. Maybe it’s like a map, and they all have their own place, and then when you see it from the sky—whoa.”
Highlighted by 220 Kindle customers -
But isn’t this a dance? Isn’t all of this a dance? Isn’t that what we do with words? Isn’t that what we do when we talk, when we spar, when we make plans or leave it to chance? Some of it’s choreographed. Some of the steps have been done for ages. And the rest—the rest is spontaneous. The rest has to be decided on the floor, in the moment, before the music ends.
Highlighted by 213 Kindle customers -
We are reading the story of our lives As though we were in it, As though we had written it.
Highlighted by 209 Kindle customers -
I was attempting to write the story of my life. It wasn’t so much about plot. It was much more about character.
Highlighted by 175 Kindle customers -
“ ‘A dream deferred is a dream denied.’ ”
Highlighted by 163 Kindle customers -
In a field, I am the absence of field. In a crowd, I am the absence of crowd. In a dream, I am the absence of dream. But I don’t want to live as an absence. I move to keep things whole. Because sometimes I feel drunk on positivity. Sometimes I feel amazement at the tangle of words and lives, and I want to be a part of that tangle.
Highlighted by 162 Kindle customers -
I had always felt that mittens were a few steps back on the evolutionary scale—why, I wondered, would we want to make ourselves into a less agile version of a lobster?
Highlighted by 136 Kindle customers -
Are you going to be playing for the pure thrill of unreluctant desire?
Highlighted by 117 Kindle customers
Setting & Locations edit
New York City
- The Strand: The Strand is a book store which Dash and Lily both frequent. This is where it all begins- the place where Dash finds the red notebook for the first time. This is also where he is first approached by Priya as he is looking through a rather explicit book for a clue.
- Manhattan, New York
First Sentence edit
Imagine this: You're in your favorite bookstore, scanning the shelves.
Themes & Symbolism edit
- Imagining People: Dash and Lily only know each other by what is written in the book and what conclusions they can draw from this and other observations they and others have made.
Authors & Contributors edit
- Rachel Cohn (Author)
- David Levithan (Author)
First Edition edit
Original Language: English
Publisher: Knopf
Country: United States of America
Publication Date: October 26, 2010
ISBN: 978-0-375-86659-3
Page Count: 260
Publisher: Knopf
Country: United States of America
Publication Date: October 26, 2010
ISBN: 978-0-375-86659-3
Page Count: 260
Awards edit
- Pennsylvania Young Readers' Choice Award (Finalist, 2012: Young Adult)
Classification edit
- Library of Congress: PZ7.C6665
- Dewey: Add the Dewey Classification.
Subjects edit
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