The Pairing by Casey McQuiston is a romance with a strong American flavour. Theo comes from a successful Hollywood family, the Flowerdays, but wants to prove it on her own. Tomboyish (though this term might sound dated for a book of this kind), freckled, with strong limbs, she has tried her hand at various things including converting an old bus into a bar and serving the best Bloody Marys and orange Margaritas with peppers. A wine connoisseur, she can tell where a particular wine comes from, with details of the soil and weather of the vineyards. She grew up in an eight-bedroom house with a swimming pool and a wine cellar. While most girls her age had their noses in academic books Theo spent hours studying cocktail manuals and threw wild parties on her birthdays. In her twenties, she does event managements on weekends, executing lavish weddings and other gigs. And still she is broke most of the time because she is disorganised and terrible at handling finances. Nonetheless, she stubbornly refuses to use the Flowerday privileges. Her sister tells her bluntly, “You get in your own way. You have this nepotism chip on your shoulder, and you make your life harder on purpose just to prove to yourself that you’re not what you are. But you’re a Flowerday.”
Words that echoed what her boyfriend told her as well when they broke up after a fight. Kit, her childhood friend-turned boyfriend-turned ex, is the exact opposite of Theo. He is proud of his artistic parentage and takes after his French mother who painted, baked and grew pretty flowers. When his parents shifted from France to America, he was only eight and quite lost at school. Tomboy Theo became his anchor. He was fascinated with her. “When I first moved to the US, I thought Theo might have been one of the cowboys from the American books my father bought me,” is how Kit describes Theo. When he lost his mother at a very young age Theo was beside him, helping him through a very painful time. Simple and uncomplicated, Kit worships the ground Theo walks on.
With opposite poles attracting, Kit and Theo become lovers when they outgrow their childhood. So, is The Pairing a typical, old-fashioned love story? In many ways yes, and in many ways no. There are the stereotypical situations—loving, fighting, separating and being thrown together again four years later. But this being a contemporary love story it is not a straight he and she romance. It’s a pairing of two bisexuals, no strings attached with Theo’s self-esteem issues making it a long-drawn, complicated tale of intense passion.
To begin with, the fight that keeps them apart for four years is over Kit applying to culinary schools in Paris and drawing up picture perfect plans for both of them living in Paris and pursuing their individual interests. Theo is livid. With her fierce determination to be independent and successful, she cannot believe Kit has made plans for both of them! They split. She continues to struggle in America while Kit is the star pupil at Ecole Desjardines where his classmates, male and female, drool over his godlike, perfect looks and his sweet, helpful nature. After graduating he works as a patissier in a Parisian hotel, very good at what he does. Kit and Theo don’t stay in touch.
Then, like in a typical love story they find themselves together on a tour of France, Spain and Italy. A tour that is as much about beautiful, old architecture, fountains, museums, art galleries, fishing villages and Vespa scooter rides, as it is about food, wine and sex. For three weeks they eat, drink and make love, experimenting in all three. With others first and then with each other.
Written in a racy style, this book is for readers who are Kit and Theo’s age, that is those in their twenties or even thirties. Older readers like me might find the long-drawn and repetitive hedonistic adventures taxing, despite enjoying some beautifully-written passages. “Afternoon light spreads like caramel down Boulevard Saint Germaine, burnishing the flowers that drip from silk café canopies,” is how a street in Paris is described, deliciously imaginative. Read like a travel book, The Pairing has its moments.
But as a love story, it takes too long unfolding. When Theo finally finds herself and comes to terms with who she is, you sigh with relief that you don’t have to go through any more pop psychology and soul searching, glad that she and Kit will live happily ever after.
Book: The Pairing
Author: Casey McQuiston
Publisher: Macmillan
Pages: 432
Price: Rs 599
