Wednesday, February 2, 2011

Review: The Lover's Dictionary - David Levithan

Where I got it: Library
Rating: 5 stars
Cover Rating:  5 stars (Perfect)
Genre: Adult/but definitely has YA appeal
Publication Date: January 4, 2011
Publisher: Farrar, Straus and Giroux
Page Count: 211 p.

How can you write about love? There are many different kinds of love, as well as different emotions for each stage of love. Clearly using a dictionary of sorts is the easiest. Or is it? This is a story about glimpses into the world of love. Small fragments that help make up the big picture. A story about one couple in one relationship and what love meant to them at different points in time.

This was a fantastic read. Heather O'Neill is quoted on the back of this book saying: "...an addictive and wildly fun read." I must disagree with the thought of this being fun. It was very enjoyable, but equally heartbreaking. I found very little fun about this save for the format of the story. If you have ever been in a relationship you should read this novel. It was so well-written(as one has come to expect from David Levithan). I love how the narrator is a man, but the lover is not ever identified as male of female. I think it helps you to see the relationship in two different worlds, or in whichever you can comprehend. I also loved the repetition that slowly revealed parts of the story further. This was a completely fantastic novel and a very fast read. You should buy it, because you will want to pick it up again and again.

First Line:
"aberrant, adj.
'I don't normally do this kind of thing,' you said."


Favorite Line:
"But in a perverse way, I was relieved that you were the one who made the mistake."

5 comments:

  1. David Levithan is amazing. Great review--I can't wait to read this one!

    ReplyDelete
  2. I'd never heard of this book before, but it looks really good. Thanks for the review.

    ReplyDelete
  3. I am so happy to read your review...I just decided last night that I am going to give this book away later this month--All without having read it. But, I've read enough Levithan that this book is going to be brilliant. Thanks for affirming what I thought to be true!

    ReplyDelete
  4. I have this one waiting for me to read. I've heard great things thus far and I go into any David Levithan book pretty much expecting to love it.

    ReplyDelete
  5. I loved this one too. It was just so fresh and totally honest. It was heartbreaking but completely romantic all at once. It was so real - perfectly captured all the emotions of a relationship and the relationships that come with a relationship.

    I was under the impression that the lover was a woman though - I think in the first few pages he alludes to her being pregnant.... he aks "who's the father?" I believe. But you're right - the lack of description of the lover just really made it all that more vibrant. The relationship was on display, not the person - which is why it's such a great book.

    ReplyDelete

Hello readers! I love comments, so please feel free to leave them. I do comment back on every comment I get, though it may take me a couple of days. Thanks for stopping by!

LinkWithin

Related Posts Plugin for WordPress, Blogger...