The Friend Zone

“How are you feeling? Do you have a surgery date?”

Tyler asks Kristen these questions during their first phone call within the novel. This scene represents the first major glimpse that Jimenez provides into Kristen’s largely hidden health condition. However, Jimenez refrains from explaining the true nature of these medical conditions until much later, as they form the basis for the novel’s primary conflict.

“‘A lot of reasons. The biggest one being that she didn’t want to have kids. I did. It wasn’t negotiable.’

She nodded again. ‘That’s a big one,’ she mumbled.”

When Josh and Kristen meet, Kristen finds herself inwardly dismayed at Josh’s explanation for why he broke up with his previous girlfriend, Celeste. At this point in the novel, the true nature of Kristen’s medical condition are still a complete mystery, and Jimenez uses this scene to indicate that Kristen herself may have strong opinions about the issue of having children. This suggestion lies primarily in the dramatic change in Kristen’s body language and overall demeanor, as when she mumbles her response.

“There’s something you should know about me, Josh. I say what I think. I don’t have a coy bone in my body. Yes, you’re sexy. Enjoy the compliment because you won’t always like what I say to you, and I won’t care one way or the other if you do or don’t.”

This quote from Kristen shows that she knows herself well and that she is blunt, funny, and sometimes harsh. However, her ongoing stubbornness and determination to keep her medical concerns to herself gives the lie to her statement. Far from “saying what she thinks,” Kristen spends much of the novel refusing to say much of anything at all, and her lack of honesty on this point damages her burgeoning relationship with