When I picked up a copy of Love and other perishable items, I was not expecting a lot. It seemed like a laid-back read to me. A light read that will help you kill time. Man, was I wrong.
From reading the synopsis of the book, it seemed like a typical love story about young love, crushes and all the other stuff. Just to see the world ‘Love’ on the title makes me think about something cheesy. I thought this book would end on a positive note, like the usual lighthearted novels, but surprisingly, it had a more realistic finish. This proves, that I shouldn’t judge a book by the cover, or rather, by its title.
Love and other perishable items tells the story of 15-year-old Amelia, who develops a crush on 21-year old Chris, her co-worker from her part-time job at a local grocery store. Amelia falls head over heels in love with Chris even though she knows there is zero chance of them being together, given the wide age gap. But somewhere along the way, the possibility of Chris liking her back arises, which makes Amelia fall for him even more.
The story is told from two perspective narrative, particularly by Amelia and Chris. It’s been awhile since I’ve read books that were written this way, and I do miss it so it was refreshing to read this book. Having two sides to story gives an all the more realistic feel since there’s always more than one side to a story.
Although I am all praises for this book, I think the beginning wasn’t so enticing. I got a little bored at first. It took me awhile to really get hooked to the story. But when things started to get interesting, I could not put the book down. I had to know how the story ends.
For the most part, the story was indeed a lighthearted read and it did make me smile a lot times. I like how Amelia and Chris wrote letters to each other. It made me want to have someone who will exchange letters with me someday.
Despite the story lingering on the happy side for the most of it, I was completely shattered by the ending. I was not expecting it.
With my assumption of the story being a typical cheesy love story, I thought the two characters would eventually happily together. When I reached the climax of the story and the conflict unveiled itself, I was expecting for the conflict to be resolved after, but that’s not how it exactly happened. I won’t spoil the ending for you guys, but all I can say it was a bit of an open ending.
I don’t know if it just because of the low expectations I set for this book that blew me in the end, but I really like the ending. I left me hanging with all of these feelings. It ended way better than what I expected.
Overall, I find the book to be a worthwhile story.It was a pretty quick read at 243 pages, exactly what I needed for a chill Sunday afternoon.
You guys should definitely read this if you like stories with realistic endings that keep you guessing what happens next.
I give this book a 4.5 out of 5 stars rating.
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