The Lover’s Dictionary by David Levithan

My rating: 5 of 5 stars

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. ~goodreads

First off, I would like to tell everyone that David Levithan’s The Lover’s Dictionary is  not your ordinary novel-in-a-book type of book. I have read many disappointed reviews about this book and lots of them are recommending NOT to buy the book at all as it is not worth it. So I say, this book may be or may not be for you. I suggest you give it a little read-through before you actually buy a copy. You can few its first few pages in Amazon then you decide from there. For me, it took a little over letter B to be able to get a good grasp of it and eventually appreciate the book.

Notice I gave this book a 5? It is because overall, I liked this book and how it was written. It gives the reader some space to ponder their thoughts without the book being suggestive or intrusive about what you should think and what not. I strongly suggest The Lover’s Dictionary for couples and I’m quite reluctant to recommend this for singles or those who are partnerless since birth as there are parts where you cannot really understand what’s going on if you didn’t experience the situation yourself. My being married  for 10 years helped a lot as I could identify myself with the characters.

I would  have to say that Mr. Levithan is brave to have written something like this as evidently, it is very unique. It would have helped though if there was some kind of “skeletal” explanation for what’s happening so that when the entries jump from one to another, the reader won’t be left wondering what has happened.

This is the best line, for me, and I am quoting:

“there are things I miss”, you said. “But if I didn’t have you, I’d  miss more”

so true

The Best of Me
by Nicholas Sparks

THE BEST OF ME is the heart-rending story of two small-town former high school sweethearts from opposite sides of the tracks. Now middle-aged, they’ve taken wildly divergent paths, but neither has lived the life they imagined . . . and neither can forget the passionate first love that forever altered their world. When they are both called back to their hometown for the funeral of the mentor who once gave them shelter, they will be forced to confront the choices each has made, and ask whether love can truly rewrite the past. ~ Goodreads

ISBN: 0446547654 (ISBN13: 9780446547659)
Primary Language: English
Original Title: The Best of Me

Before I start my review, I would like to quote Nicholas Sparks, the author, first, when asked why he always kills a main character in his novels:

“Every genre has a purpose. The thriller is meant to thrill, a horror novel is supposed to scare you, a romance novel is a romantic fantasy.” He adds, “The purpose of that genre (romance) is to move the reader through all the emotions of life; that’s what I’m supposed to do [as a writer of romance novels]. If I eliminate one of the major emotions of life, you’ll close [the book] because it doesn’t feel real to you.” Nicholas goes on to say, “All love stories, by definition, have to end in tragedy.”

Well, Mr. Sparks, you did a very good job of moving me in all your novels even if I sometimes don’t like how it ends. lol.

As soon as I got my hands on my copy of The Best of Me, I started reading it. Browsing at first but had to go back and read page after page properly when I realize this book surely deserves my full attention. Yep, you guessed it right, I was reading a rather “dragging” book that required all my willpower and love for all things books not to throw it out the window! I guess that’s one hazard of being a book reviewer – you will eventually get frustrating ones even if the author is popular and well-known.

Anyway, back to The Best of Me, I must admit, this is clearly not Mr. Sparks’ best novel as that belongs to The Notebook, no less. I will also say that I felt it didn’t quite hit its mark properly, like there was something lacking, like the story is almost there. The  Best of Me almost made me cry. Almost.

However I am still giving it a 5 because definitely The Best of Me is worth your time reading. Why? Because it is the kind of story that sticks hours after you’re done reading it. Believe me, you won’t be disappointed.

So the story started with Dawson Cole, the main character in this novel, seeing a mystery man who he later thought to be always saving his life from potentially fatal incidents. He thought this man was his friend Tuck who died at around the same time he started seeing the  mystery man. The same Tuck who was the reason why he came back home after so many years, only to be reunited with Amanda – his first love.

The situation was made complicated by Amanda’s being married and with three kids. Add to that Dawson’s family situation as he is not in good terms with his family – at all. Dawson was practically gambling his life by being in town but he stayed just to be able to fulfill Tuck’s wishes, and be with Amanda. Then there’s the accident – the one that changed Dawson’s life forever – that still haunted Dawson until the very end.

I hated the ending. I just think that death in this novel is not justifiable but reading the interview (quoted above) I realized that a story doesn’t have to be written the way I like it but how it was able to move the  reader. It moved me so the novel did what it’s supposed to do. 

Like I said, I enjoyed the novel; I couldn’t put it down and it almost made me cry so definitely a 5!

Cheers!