Better Than the Movies

Liz Buxbaum is the 17-year-old protagonist of the novel. She has curly red hair and is idealistic. She has a strong sense of fashion influenced by her mother, who she describes as similar to Doris Day. Liz has developed her mother’s sensibility into her own vintage style which others tease her for. After losing her mother at a young age, she cherishes their short time together, which was typically spent watching and obsessing over romantic movies. She believes that by keeping these romantic values alive, she is keeping her mother close to her.

This is mainly why she denies her growing feeling for Wes. She believes Wes is not the kind of guy her mother would want her to fall in love with. Instead, Liz believes her mother would want her to be with someone like Michael. Liz also tries to keep the memory of her mother alive by keeping her stepmother, Helena, at a distance. Helena is beautiful, funny, and cool, and although Liz likes her, she initially finds it difficult to truly bond with Helena. She feels that she would be betraying her mother if she were to do traditional mother-daughter things with Helena, like shopping for prom dresses.

Liz also lies to her best friend Joss when Joss begs Liz to go dress shopping with her. Liz cannot imagine going through that rite of passage with Joss and Joss’s mother instead of with her own. As Liz prepares to leave Nebraska for UCLA in the fall, she fears that leaving her childhood home will be like leaving her mother behind.

As Liz’s feelings for Wes develop, she realizes that she cannot keep hiding behind an idealized version of her mother’s memory and a fantasy of “happily ever after.” She learns that Wes is kind, dependable, sweet, and more like the leading men her mother told her to go for. Even if Wes was in fact the “bad boy” her mother warned her about, Liz knows that her mother would want her to follow her heart like the heroines in their favorite romantic movies. Wes helps Liz accept that she cannot control her heart with romanticized logic.

Later, Liz accepts Helena in her life by agreeing to go dress shopping with her and Joss. Liz discovers that even though her mother cannot be there, she can still feel excited for prom and have fun trying on dresses like a typical high school senior. Liz also allows herself to feel less guilty about beginning her new college life; she realizes that leaving Nebraska will not erase her mother or their connection. Her mother is kept alive through memories and Liz’s newfound ability to move forward. Finally, Liz has the freedom to appreciate the past while not letting it stop her from looking toward her future. In this way, Liz both exemplifies and defies the role of traditional romance heroine.