The Lover's Dictionary
Ratings44
Average rating3.7
15
Ratings44
Average rating3.7
basis, n.
There has to be a moment at the beginning when you wonder whether you're in love with the person or in love with the feeling of love itself.
If the moment doesn't pass, that's it―you're done. And if the moment does pass, it never goes that far. It stands in the distance, ready for whenever you want it back. Sometimes it's even there when you thought you were searching for something else, like an escape route, or your lover's face.
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.
Reviews with the most likes.
“dumbfounded, adj.
And still, for all the jealousy, all the doubt, sometimes I will be struck with a kind of awe that we're together. That someone like me could find someone like you—it renders me wordless. Because surely words would conspire against such luck, would protest the unlikelihood of such a turn of events.
I didn't tell any of my friends about our first date. I waited until after the second, because I wanted to make sure it was real. I wouldn't believe it had happened until it happened again. Then, later on, I would be overwhelmed by the evidence, by all the lines connecting you to me, and us to love.”
I was really looking forward to reading this one, I mean, what a concept – tell a love story through a series of personal dictionary entries. Amazon gives a sample or two (I'd provide my own, but I don't have the book on me): “breathtaking (adj.),” the unnamed narrator explains, “Those moments when we kiss and surrender for an hour before we say a single word.” For “exacerbate (v.),” he notes, “I believe your exact words were: ‘You're getting too emotional.'“
Some of the entries are short, not even a sentence long; some go on for a page or two. Some are funny, some are bitter, some are lovey-dovey and sweet. The entries are listed alphabetically, rather than chronologically, so the reader has to piece together the story from beginning to end.
Great, great concept.
And that's pretty much all it is.
Sure, it was skillfully accomplished. Can't complain about the execution. But beyond that, there's little to be said about it. It comes across as little more than a clever exercise for a Creative Writing course.
I was pretty disappointed in case you can't tell.
Quick and interesting read. I love the way the book is set up - the author provides an inside look of a relationship he was/is in through words and vignettes.
