Review: The Lover's Dictionary by David Levithan

Title: The Lover's Dictionary

Author: David Levithan

Genre: Contemporary/Realistic Fiction

Pages: 211 (Paperback)

Publisher: Picador
Publication date: January 17th, 2012

Synopsis from The Lover's Dictionary's Goodreads page

How does one talk about love? Is it even possible to describe something at once utterly mundane and wholly transcendent, that has the power to consume our lives completely, while making us feel part of something infinitely larger than ourselves? Taking a unique approach to this age-old problem, the nameless narrator of David Levithan's The Lover's Dictionary constructs the story of a relationship as a dictionary. Through these sharp entries, he provides an intimate window into the great events and quotidian trifles of coupledom, giving us an indelible and deeply moving portrait of love in our time.

THOUGHTS

This book was definitely not what I was expecting. I was expecting more of a lighthearted, easy, love-story read. This was not that.

This book is told in a very unique way - every page has a word on it, in alphabetical order, and the story is told as the definitions of the words that are on the same page. It was this that drew me into the book in the first place - an easier read, and something that I have never even seen anything similar to before.

The plot of this book was also really different, in that there wasn't really even quite a plot. The entries jumped from sad ones to cute and happy ones back to devastatingly sad ones, and I really liked that. It resembles a real relationship, where there are good days and bad days, and the good days are really good and the bad days are really bad. It resembles life, and I really liked that it didn't sugar coat it; it was abrupt and to the point.

The entries themselves were absolutely amazing. They were very short, with some being a sentence or two, and the longest being just over a single sided page. They were beautiful and sad and heart-wrenching and wonderful.

One of my favourites was this quote, from the page titled "Only":

"That's the dilemma, isn't it? When you're single, there's the sadness and joy of only me. And when you're paired, there's the sadness and joy of only you."

The story itself is raw and real, and is completely relatable to any relationship. It was sad and happy and gave me a lot of emotions, but was also a bit too short for me. I was hoping for a bit more, an I felt that even though it did end on the letter Z, I feel like a bit more could have been done.

Overall - ★★★☆☆.5