"How does one talk about love? Do we even have the right words to describe something that can be both utterly mundane and completely transcendent, pulling us out of our everyday lives and making us feel a part of something greater than ourselves? Taking a unique approach to this problem, the nameless narrator of David Levithan’s The Lover’s Dictionary has constructed the story of his relationship as a dictionary. Through these short entries, he provides an intimate window into the great events and quotidian trifles of being within a couple, giving us an indelible and deeply moving portrait of love in our time." (book cover)
I am not on the fan bandwagon on this one. Looks like I have a trend starting in not liking books about modern love (eg. Nicholl's One Day). I just found this book to be too cynical.
The writing approach was clever. It didn't have the tradition beginning, middle, and end in that order but rather written in fragments (in dictionary format) incorporating a jumbled beginning, middle, and end that one can still piece together. This made for a quick read but also leaves you with many unanswered questions. But having everything lined up wasn't the point of this book. Rather a glimpse into an unidentified couple's relationship. It's like a diary written out of order.
It's an overall relate-able and cute story but I don't know ... this novel struck me as an easy way out of writing a full length novel ..masked under creative writing style. Too hip for me, I guess.
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Thanks for your honesty, Jinky. I'm not one for diary-type books to begin with - and one written seemingly out of order *groans* -
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