The Lover's Dictionary: A Novel
Registered by 
GoryDetails
of Nashua, New Hampshire USA on 4/28/2017
This Book is Currently in the Wild!
GoryDetails of Nashua, New Hampshire USA on 4/28/2017 This Book is Currently in the Wild!
1 journaler for this copy...
I found this little softcover at the Book Cellar. It's a love story told in the form of dictionary entries - an interesting concept, which reminded me a bit of Encyclopedia of an Ordinary Life - a memoir in encyclopedia-form!
This book really impressed me, for its unusual format and asynchronous storytelling - and for its gender-ambiguity. While references to some other relationships of the two protagonists do mention gender, there's no indication of the sex of the main couple, so one or both of them could be gay or bisexual. I'm not even sure whether the first-person narrator is always the same person or if we get both partners' viewpoints - I suspect the latter but can't prove it!
That doesn't affect the ups and downs of the relationship, which had lots of elements that resonated with me. We see incidents of besotted romance, and some of mundane touchiness (see "Adamant", in which the two disagree over a Meryl Streep role and both wind up feeling put-upon, though to different degrees). Then there's "arcane", in which the narrator describes the two of them having dinner with a friend and exchanging references to "Rear Window", prompting the friend to mention that they've merged their "strange, baffling references". Since I'm a fan of the film and simply love to have other people bat the same references around, I didn't find it strange or baffling, rather warm-and-fuzzy...
Another entry that felt familiar: "autonomy" - "'I want my books to have their own shelves,' you said, and that's how I knew it would be okay to live together." Some might find that offputting; to me it sounds almost ideal!
On a darker note, the entry for "justice" has the narrator telling about a bully from his middle-school days, only to have the lover hunt down the now-grown person and send a bouquet with a note saying how happy they are that the bully has grown up desperate and lonely. The narrator observes, "I can't help but admire your capacity for creative vengeance. And at the same time, I am afraid of it." As one should be! That kind of thing is tempting to think of, but not at all nice to do...
"Livid" is a rant about being cheated on, heartfelt and furious. From previous entries I got a hint as to where in the course of the relationship this occurred, but it was still quite a departure from the usual tone of the entries. And, yes, it brought to mind a time when I could have delivered a similar rant - thankfully, a time long, long ago and thoroughly put behind me {wry grin}.
One of my favorite entries is for "meander", with the two characters trying to work out how the conversation got from Democratic gains in the South to "Tainted Love". Somehow I have conversations like that all the time, and sometimes there is a "how did we get here?" recap that's usually pretty funny - and indicates a level of comfort and closeness that's very nice.
There's a lot more here, snippets of two lives that intersect, sometimes beautifully, sometimes painfully - humor, the mundane, irritation, and all the other feelings a couple might have. I really enjoyed this!
(I enjoyed Levithan's novel Boy Meets Boy.)
This book really impressed me, for its unusual format and asynchronous storytelling - and for its gender-ambiguity. While references to some other relationships of the two protagonists do mention gender, there's no indication of the sex of the main couple, so one or both of them could be gay or bisexual. I'm not even sure whether the first-person narrator is always the same person or if we get both partners' viewpoints - I suspect the latter but can't prove it!
That doesn't affect the ups and downs of the relationship, which had lots of elements that resonated with me. We see incidents of besotted romance, and some of mundane touchiness (see "Adamant", in which the two disagree over a Meryl Streep role and both wind up feeling put-upon, though to different degrees). Then there's "arcane", in which the narrator describes the two of them having dinner with a friend and exchanging references to "Rear Window", prompting the friend to mention that they've merged their "strange, baffling references". Since I'm a fan of the film and simply love to have other people bat the same references around, I didn't find it strange or baffling, rather warm-and-fuzzy...
Another entry that felt familiar: "autonomy" - "'I want my books to have their own shelves,' you said, and that's how I knew it would be okay to live together." Some might find that offputting; to me it sounds almost ideal!
On a darker note, the entry for "justice" has the narrator telling about a bully from his middle-school days, only to have the lover hunt down the now-grown person and send a bouquet with a note saying how happy they are that the bully has grown up desperate and lonely. The narrator observes, "I can't help but admire your capacity for creative vengeance. And at the same time, I am afraid of it." As one should be! That kind of thing is tempting to think of, but not at all nice to do...
"Livid" is a rant about being cheated on, heartfelt and furious. From previous entries I got a hint as to where in the course of the relationship this occurred, but it was still quite a departure from the usual tone of the entries. And, yes, it brought to mind a time when I could have delivered a similar rant - thankfully, a time long, long ago and thoroughly put behind me {wry grin}.
One of my favorite entries is for "meander", with the two characters trying to work out how the conversation got from Democratic gains in the South to "Tainted Love". Somehow I have conversations like that all the time, and sometimes there is a "how did we get here?" recap that's usually pretty funny - and indicates a level of comfort and closeness that's very nice.
There's a lot more here, snippets of two lives that intersect, sometimes beautifully, sometimes painfully - humor, the mundane, irritation, and all the other feelings a couple might have. I really enjoyed this!
(I enjoyed Levithan's novel Boy Meets Boy.)
Journal Entry 2 by GoryDetails at Main Street (See Release Notes For Details) in Nashua, New Hampshire USA on Sunday, June 4, 2017
GoryDetails at Main Street (See Release Notes For Details) in Nashua, New Hampshire USA on Sunday, June 4, 2017
Released 6 yrs ago (6/4/2017 UTC) at Main Street (See Release Notes For Details) in Nashua, New Hampshire USA
WILD RELEASE NOTES:
I left this book, bagged against the elements, on a window sill above the marvelous Hollywood mural on Main St. at around 4:30. (I left it in the far-left windowsill, over the "It's A Wonderful Life" portion of the mural.) Hope the finder enjoys the book![See other recent releases in NH here.]
*** Released for the 2017 June Brides release challenge. ***
