Rate this book

Enough About Love (2011)

by Hervé Le Tellier(Favorite Author)

3.31 of 5 Votes: 1

ISBN

1590513991 (ISBN13: 9781590513996)

languge

English

genre

Romance

publisher

Other Press

review 1: 3.5 stars. An interesting and tangled story about the complications of love. Love is never simple or easily defined, especially when a married partner is tempted to have an affair, yet essentially still loves their partner. Touching, but a little difficult to follow at times due to the constant changing between the stories of the various couples and the linking character - their therapist.
review 2: I enjoyed the book and enjoyed all the characters too. I found the story well stated – mathematically precise – and creatively written: a book difficult to put down and one that’s deep and worthy and memorable.The story centers primarily around two women, unrelated and approaching 40: one, very conservative, traditional, filled with mid-life angst; the other... more has had affairs before. All the book’s characters seem to be upper middle class, and for the most part, endowed, educated, successful and pretty well lacking little. At the beginning of the story I felt considerable anger at the seeming superficiality of their lives - or as a male protagonist quoted ‘there are some works so luminous that they fill us with shame for the meagre life to which we are resigned’. I also wondered why the author had chosen upper middle class characters, who seemed to have had it all. Was it because they didn’t - in spite of appearances? It left one wondering if they weren’t all just spoilt and undisciplined, and whether the book had enough elegance to be made into a slick love story. Or was it to reassure us - who perhaps don’t have it all - that we are all, all of us, simply humans in need. Both my initial annoyance and distrust passed, and even on a 2nd read, the story retained its vibrancy. I sympathized with all the characters, even the minor ones, liking them and appreciating their plight. Each of the characters we met in the story seemed to be likeable and good people, and each has a vulnerability, a chink in their armour through which we can see them and like them.I also enjoyed the many observations, many of which were insightful and some of which were chilling• ‘The adventurous life that will have required many transgressions’;• (a husband wronged): ‘I know I let the magic slip away, it’s my fault, all the laziness and routine’;• ‘Why won’t she dare to want to fail’: it seemed that success is frequently becomes a prison of its own;• And my favourite, from Pascal I believe – but it’s a notion of vulnerability that those who for example in L’Arche or work with the handicapped know well – ‘what attracts me to a person has more to do with what make them fragile, the chink in their armour’.One of my favourite chapters was when the author had a cuckolded husband attend a presentation given by his wife’s lover, and while narrating what the presenter was saying having us listen in parallel to the husband’s thoughts, with them spanning curiosity, anger, envy, regret, confusion and pain. One wonders how we take this behaviour so lightly, given the pain it causes. I remain troubled by how morally wanting all the characters seemed to have been. As if Western civilization has no ethos and no history, as if we wander about almost aimlessly and empty, desiring what another has. I wonder if the superb writing only serves to document or maybe even further popularize a winner-takes-all opportunism. It reminds me of the words from a Dolly Parton song which (at least on CBC) had become popular again under Norah JonesJolene, Jolene, Jolene, JoleneI’m begging of you please don't take my manJolene, Jolene, Jolene, JolenePlease don't take him just because you canYou could have your choice of menBut I could never love againHe’s the only one for me, JoleneOr, when one character says, and not unkindly but for readers heart-wrenchingly sadly: ‘It must be me then. I know you can leave a man.’Edwin less

Download links for: Enough About Love

Advertising