ineffable, adj.
These words will ultimately end up being the barest of reflections, devoid of the sensations words cannot convey. Trying to write about love is ultimately like trying to have a dictionary represent life. No matter how many words there are, there will never be enough.
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, with anecdotal entries from aberrant to zenith. Through these short entries, most less than a page long, 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.
This was such an intriguing way to write a story but it paid off and I absolutely loved it. The snippets given in alphabetical order was not a chronologically accurate, and I loved seeing the truth in their relationship slowly emerge and then given depth. There was a lot left unsaid by the unnamed characters, but at the end the story didn't feel incomplete.
I have always considered myself to be well-read and have an above average vocabulary for someone my age, so it was surprising to me how many words I had to look up the meaning of when I wasn't seeing them viewed in a full sentence.
Now there was one downside to this book...I stumbled across this when I was checking out the recommended books for Kindle on Amazon.com and this one popped up with really good reviews. After reading it, and overall enjoying to short book, I can say that I am glad I read it, but wished I had of waited for it to come on sale as the largest feeling I was left with after reading it within 24 hours was that I shouldn't have paid $13 AUD for the kindle version. But after I got over that feeling of being a little ripped of I reminded myself that I actually really enjoyed the story.
Overall, a good read if you don't have the time to get stuck in to a long, heavy story.
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