Which brings me to you novel
What follows is a series of traded confessions—of their messy histories, their past errors, their big loves, their flaws, and their passions. The ones who bruised them.
Where all of this soul-baring will take them is the burning question behind every letter—a question that can only be answered when they meet again, finally, in the flesh. Fiction Romance Adult Novels More Details. Steve Almond 67 books followers. He lives outside Boston with his wife and baby daughter Josephine.
Search review text. I have always thought the opening sentence of a book is the author's best pickup line pitched at the reader. More so, then, in a book where well-constructed paragraphs hold the explicit promise of intimate relations--that, at least, is the premise of this post-postmodern epistolary novel where the two hyperarticulate protagonists agree to reveal the nasty bits of their romantic pasts in letters before meeting up again in real life.
My former colleague Craig Stoltz put it best, I think, when he reviewed the book for the Washington Post: "This book is full of superb writing, and that is precisely its problem The trouble is Jane's letters sound an awful lot as if they've been written by an award-winning author and writing instructor with an MFA.
So, alas, do John's. To say this spoils the fun is to understate. Whether the lack of sympathy for this kind is due to character, snark, or textual framing, the book's prelude section remains a worthy meditation on a smushed boutonniere and contains a line of sexual absolution on page five that I have taken as a personal motto curious? I thought so. Moreover, how can you ignore the serious fun of keeping the conceit of a post-postmodern epistolary novel aloft for the length of a novel?
I mean, really, our two protagonists always have stamps on hand? Perhaps I read this in one sitting because each chapter contains character details I covet. To have our hero admit he is a "marginalia junkie"; to be able to refer to a past lover as "the caramelized one"; to articulate an awareness of destructive tendencies and the wherewithal at seventeen to intuit that "boys were dangerous.
Each one was shining, lit from within; their souls were torches. It's worth remembering that epistolary works were originally "penned" by female characters Aphra Behn, of course, used the form; male authors like Richardson would take pains to insist in the introduction that the female narrator's story was "true" when the novel was still crystallizing into a genre.
Appropriately, the end of the novel careens a bit like its tipsy characters, and structurally, the multiple peaks within the letters throughout are followed by valleys leading to more peaks. The very end comes together in that elegant way that always brings me to tears--not because it's an emotional moment it is , but because each reveals their understanding of the other's most significant, sustaining source of pain, and those final admissions seal a narrative that the two characters share voicing--imperfectly and, ultimately, full of hope.
Author 1 book followers. Discover what to read next. The Best Books of PW Picks: Books of the Week. When she learns that Will has shocking plans of his own, she sets out to show him that life is still worth living. Share: Share on Facebook. Other Series By Jojo Moyes. About Jojo Moyes. More about Jojo Moyes. Other Series You Might Like. Today's Top Books Want to know what people are actually reading right now?
Stay in Touch Sign up. Become a Member Start earning points for buying books! To redeem, copy and paste the code during the checkout process. See Account Overview. But banter is relationship currency, and John and Jane have obvious chemistry, more Alvy and Annie than Abelard and Heloise. The novel is rich in anecdote, less so in substance. Please share your story tips by emailing editor seattleweekly.