„COUNTERFEIT” de Kirstin Chen

Când aud despre absolvenți de Harvard sau Columbia, îmi imaginez automat cariere spectaculoase. Îmi mai imaginez și niște studenți atât de deștepți și de determinați în timpul școlii, opusul complet studenției mele unde păream cu toții mai interesați de petreceri și de relații sentimentale decât de școală.

Scriitoarea Kirstin Chen, prin romanul ei „Counterfeit”, mi-a prezentat o latură la care nici nu mă gândisem. Că este posibil ca viața unui absolvent de Ivy League să nu fie atât de lină și de spectaculoasă precum te-ai aștepta.
Mai mult, că este posibil să-și folosească extraordinara inteligență făcând lucruri ilegale, precum comercializarea genților contrafăcute. Iar bucuria lor să fie și mai mare uitîndu-se la câștigurile materiale, care depășesc cu mult pe cele pe care le-ar fi obținut legal.

„She only had to hang out with Ava a couple of times before she saw her opening. 
Of course Ava’s Harvard-educated doctor husband was absent and neglectful; of course she couldn’t admit that she hated being a lawyer and twisted herself into contortions downplaying her son’s developmental issues.
As far as Winnie could tell, Ava’s entire life could be boiled down to this: great on paper, rotten everywhere else.

And Winnie was sorry to see it. Her old friend deserved better. 

Truly, when Winnie decided to bring Ava into her business, she was doing her a favor. As much as she needed Ava’s help, Ava needed hers. 
Winnie was prepared. She trotted out her well-worn argument: the corporations were the real villains. They abused their workers, paying them pennies and then going out and hawking the fruits of their labor for thousands.

Ava’s upper lip curled into a sneer. 
– Spare me the excuses, she said. You’re no Robin Hood.
Just say you saw an opportunity to make money and took it.

-Okay, she said slowly. You’re right.
The scheme is foolproof and I’m proud of it. I make good money. Great money, actually, and I could use your help.

When she raised her head, Ava’s eyes bored into her.
– You’re disgusting, she spat before charging out the door, leaving Winnie behind. 

Winnie sat there, hands clutching opposite elbows, wondering how she’d gotten it so wrong. She’d expected shock, displeasure, sure, maybe condemnation. She hadn’t expected rage. 

And then she understood: Ava took Winnie’s cheating as a personal affront. She saw Winnie as taking something that was rightfully hers–a life of wealth and delight and adventure, a life she’d been promised if only she worked hard enough and followed the rules and never, ever slipped up.

Except Ava had done all those things.
She’d gone to the right schools, chosen the right career, married the right partner, formed the right family–and made enormous sacrifices in the process, and yet here she was, thoroughly miserable, horrified by the prospect that her entire existence had been built on lies.”

Kindle, 2022