So what happens to the intoxicated driver? She runs off the road and dies, prompting an existential crisis for the narrator. He can’t help but wonder: could he have saved her? Should he have done something?
He becomes obsessed with finding out about the woman, whose name turns out to be Lisa Kim. His friends, who are patronizingly judgmental and unsupportive, tell him he’s gone off the deep end and needs to seek help. So he gets a therapist who helps him sort out the existential crisis, but he remains preoccupied with finding out about Lisa Kim. He wants to tell her story.
Meanwhile, his romantic relationship of convenience unravels, as his lover realizes she wants more and he realizes that he doesn’t. This is accompanied by an entertaining back-story of their early days, when they lived in Mexico and met a man named Charlie who already valued a good story over a true one.
By the end of it all, you’re left wondering what was true and what wasn’t. Which of the characters from the narrator’s life are made up? Which ones are real? What really happened?
And then you remember: it’s all made up. Probably. But that doesn’t make it any less of a great story.
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