13/50: The Lover's Dictionary by David Levithan

The Lover's Dictionary by David Levithan

My rating: 4 of 5 stars


There is something heartbreaking, real and completely open about The Lover's Dictionary. Raw would be a better word to describe it. There's no holding back in the entries. It felt real.

The storyline itself jumps all over the place. You know how the relationship ends, how it begins and what happens in between. It's jumbled, but in the end, it all makes sense. Words don't follow chronological order in a dictionary, so why would they in this format of a novel. The story doesn't have to follow beginning-middle-end. It works being all over the place. You get the full story and all it's ups and downs.

There was a conversation about this book on my online book club when I was about halfway through this book. There was a discssion around who's point of view the book is written from. All of the entries are written gender neutral. There is no "he/she" in regards to who is writting the entries. There is only "you" and "I" and "me".   I never saw this at first, but it's true! How do you interpret the narrator. Male or Female? Who is the audience? Male or female? Is the relationship heterosexual or homosexual? In  my opinion, I don't think it matters how you interperet the entries. I don't believe it makes any difference how the relationship or narrator is defined. The fact remains that the feelings are valid and true for anyone in a relationship.

This in itself makes me love The Lover's Dictionary. David Levithan is brilliant!

This novel was a very quick read but a very full one. It would be hard to read this one and not feel something.
I highly recommend getting your hands on a copy!
For more dictionary entries, there is a twitter feed: http://twitter.com/#!/loversdiction

WBC 2011: Read a book while drinking tea or another warm beverage - 5 points (picture below of what I drank)
Book Journey 2011: New York (updated map)
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