The Man I Never Met – Story & The Brain

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My Ultimate OMG Moment

The Man I Never Met, the title of the novel that would make me sit at the edge of my chair, giving me my OMG moment. Taking this generation into account, it is far too easy to start talking to a man you will never ever meet. You might talk to this person for hours on end, live in a reasonable distance, and NEVER lay eyes on one another. If it was up to me, I would have been born before phones became a thing because at least everyone you met, you knew they were real. But with The Man I Never Met, I kept finding myself screaming THAT IS SO REAL or OMG because of the way the main character, Hannah, found herself smiling at her phone when she was not supposed to. Or when her friends wanted every single detail, it made me think of my own friends. Overall, reading this gave me a full circle moment and all I can say is read this novel!!!!

Seconds after I opened the book and started reading it, all I could find myself saying is OMG OMG OMG. Hannah, a woman who lives in London, receives a call from an unknown number. She decided to answer and on the other end, there was a man asking for someone. Wrong number. The man called again accidentally and from there on, something sparked between them. Text messages lead to phones calls and then video chatting. This mystery man is Davey and he lives in Austin, Texas. Ironically he gets a job opportunity in the same area as Hannah, which he is taking and is moving in a few short weeks. But as they communicate over the phone, Hannah tries to play causal, telling Davey about the date she went on with George. George is a personal trainer who works out with Hannah and later in the novel becomes her boyfriend as she tries to play off that she does not care and/ or love Davey. Her best friend, Miranda, pushes Hannah toward what she thinks is good for her, which all along was Davey. In the beginning of the novel, Miranda wants Hannah to YOLOOO it and I am here for it, even though my mind is full of skepticism. Just everything about the entire storyline makes me think of my life experiences.

To define my ultimate OMG moment, I would say that is the word that comes out of my mouth but it is not exactly how I feel. There are different emotions that tie in with this moment. For example, when I read about Hannah trying not to smile at her phone, I have that giddy feeling where I know I shouldn’t but I am smiling. Or when Davey, after leaving Hannah stranded at the airport with zero contact for three days, all I could feel was anger towards him because what are you doing?? I find it difficult to explain the feelings that I get from reading The Man I Never Met but the word OMG says it all.

Classifying My Experiences That Prompt My OMG Moment

There is no doubt in my mind that the features that tie in with my OMG moment is connection. Connection can be described as “feeling linked or bonded to others in community.” It is fairly easy that as you read something, you might feel connected to a character because of their actions or words.

Hannah, I felt an instant connection with because she is literally me when it comes to men but she lives her little life in London. But with this connection comes identification. Identification can be described as ” Recognizing, in a character’s experience, a conflict that you have experienced.” Just because I do not have a boyfriend who lives thousands of miles away from me, doesn’t mean that I have never felt the emotions Hannah feels. To elaborate more, as Hannah looks at the text messages as they roll in from Davey, trying to fight the smile on her face, I found myself saying I literally did that twenty minutes ago.

He’s online and replying.

Is it weird I’m messaging you again?

After I sent it, I thought this might come across as weird. It takes me a moment to think and I reply honestly,

This is kind of weird. But good weird. Yeah, that’s what I was hoping for. How’s your day going?

– page 15

Or when Davey broke it off with her, and she still had every ounce of her that cared, she texted him saying that she will always be here for him and that she loves him.

“Davey,” I say and he says my name in return. “I’ve tried to let go. It’s too hard.”– page 204

It made me think that I have had men end things, but I still care and/ or love them enough to keep texting, to the point I need to tell myself to stop, exactly what Hannah did for a while.

Another experience that prompted my OMG moment is skepticism. Skepticism can be described as “A doubting or questioning state of mind.” When reading something, it is easy to find yourself questioning everything happening, saying it is too good to be true.

The first time that I felt skepticism is when Hannah and Davey first started speaking. Why is this man calling her accidentally twice? Why is all of sudden texting her? Maybe it is a stalker. You just can never know but as I continued to read another moment that I felt doubt is when Davey did not show up at the airport while Hannah stood there for hours waiting for this man to show up. After three days of ghosting her, he texts her saying how he has been in the hospital which later comes out that he has stage three testicular cancer. But as I read, my mind first rushed to that this is a crazy lie just to get out of whatever he just started but I was proven wrong. Davey really did have cancer, where he struggled with it terribly, he cut all ties with Hannah and started giving up on himself. He hit rock bottom to the point that his best friend, Grant, called Hannah pleading with her to call him and try to convince him to receive his last round of chemo or he going to die. But, in full honesty, my skepticism was to save Hannah, save Hannah from the possible feelings of hurt and confusion. During the entire read, all I could find myself yelling at Hannah to meet the love of her life!!!!, even though she cannot hear me.

Narrative Technologies that Creates the OMG Moment

My OMG moment was created by a narrative technology category, narration, but more specifically, I Voice. I Voice can be described as “A narrator who speaks in the first person.” For a decent chuck of the storyline, it was under Hannah’s narration. But towards the middle end of the book, the narration jumps between Davey and Hannah, this is where I would propose shifting I voice. During Davey’s chapters, I was able to understand his feeling as they flowed through his head.

“Either way. I messed with her head. I messed with my own head. It’s not fair to chase after her again.” – Davey, page 249

Whether if it was about Hannah could possibly doing, to the cancer beating him down, to Grant giving his information that has been a secret, I was able to feel his raw emotions.

For Hannah, it was a mix of stream of consciousness and I voice but there were moments where I felt I was with Hannah, experiencing what she was feeling. One example that screams at me as I type is her relationship with George. Earlier in my post, I explained that he is someone that works out with Hannah and they have gone out on one date. During that one date, they decide to take a holiday to Thailand that isn’t happening for a little bit. Right before they were supposed to leave, Hannah was given the news about Davey and was dumped. She was not going to go but George showed up and dragged her to the airport. The trip first started so innocent and their adult minds got in the way and they are described having sexual intercourse multiple times in a day which continued for the rest of the trip. They come back to reality and start dating. But when dating George, Hannah thought about Davey a lot. GEORGE IS CLEARLY A REBOUND. But Hannah would make comments where you know she was done, done with being with George.

I wasn’t about to go on the pill for someone I didn’t even love, I want to shout at him, but I don’t.- Hannah, page 269

Another narrative technology category that plays an important factor in my OMG moment is character. More specifically, wish fulfillment. This can be described as ” A plot technology that shows a character getting everything they want.”

Based off what you have read for far, you might ask, how has anything been wish fulfillment? Let me jump to the end of the novel for you. Since the second you started reading, it has been evident that Hannah and Davey love on another even though they have never met each other. That is HER man. Now, towards the end of the novel, Hannah’s best friend is getting married in Italy. Out of luck, Davey is working Miranda’s wedding, helping with the food. This is because once he fell into remission he was not going to stay stuck in Texas so he traveled first to London then to Italy for culinary school. During the wedding, Davey kept an older woman company which was Hannah’s neighbor. As they chat, connections were being made and that’s when everyone was like OMG. Hannah was not at the wedding, she was in a nearby field so Davey rushed to her. THEY FINALLY MEET. From that moment on, they started dating, doing the distance between London and Italy. Hannah is never left again at the airport. This is of course it shorten but I wanted to prove the wish fulfillment, Hannah got her man. She had her own OMG moments and I could not be happier with the way the novel ended.

…every part of me comes alive as Davey kisses me in a poppy field in Tuscany. And it’s everything I’d wanted it to be. And so much more. – Hannah, page 316

I have flashbacks to that time I was here nearly two years ago, holding a banner, deliberating over whether I should ditch it in favor of buying a coffee for Davey. I was waiting for a man I’d never met, a man who never arrived.- Hannah, page 318