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The Lover's Dictionary by David Levithan.. The grade-school gimmick of writing a story based on definitions hits pay dirt in Levithan’s hands. Nicely done. Love the second person lover. – Joel Gardner, LitSnap Editor |
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"This cute "novel" by YA author Levithan consists of a series of words and their definitions, each evoking a phase or theme about a fledgling romance. (e.g., fledgling: "Part of the reason I preferred reading to sex was that I at least knew I could read well"). The entries do gradually unravel a love story: the narrator has met a woman ("you") through an online dating site (aberrant: " ˜I don't normally do this kind of thing,' you said. ˜Neither do I,' I assured you"). He endures all the writhings of new love, by turns eager, reserved, and hopeful about their evolving relationship, and transported by the joy of mutual exploration, the two move in together (balk: "If it all went wrong, the last thing I'd care about was who was to blame for moving in together") and are eventually undone (livid: "You went and broke our lives"). Levithan attains some heartbreaking moments as well as pitches of hilarity with his concise, polished writing. Inherent in such an endeavor (that just happens to hit shelves around Valentine's Day) is an adorableness thankfully grounded by Levithan's wit." – Publishers Weekly "Levithan, a popular YA author and an editorial director at Scholastic, has had the inspired idea of writing the story of a love relationship in the form of a dictionary. Each word, from aberrant to zenith, defines the language of love, while adding to the reader’s knowledge and understanding of the male lovers’ partnership. Interestingly, each definition is told from the point of view and in the first-person voice of only one of the partners. The other partner’s voice remains silent throughout except as quoted by the narrator. Nevertheless, both come wonderfully alive, emerging as complex, multidimensional human beings, happy and unhappy, ebullient and angry, sweet and sour, and so—delightfully—forth. Happily, the order of the alphabet does not dictate the order of the story, which moves backward and forward in time." – Booklist |
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Author bio: I find it downright baffling to write about myself, which is why I'm considering it somewhat cruel and usual to have to write this brief bio and to update it now and then. The factual approach (born '72, Brown '94, first book '03) seems a bit dry, while the emotional landscape (happy childhood, happy adolescence - give or take a few poems - and happy adulthood so far) sounds horribly well-adjusted. The only addiction I've ever had was a brief spiral into the arms of diet Dr Pepper, unless you count My So-Called Life episodes as a drug. I am evangelical in my musical beliefs. More information can be found here: http://www.amazon.com/David-Levithan/e/B001IQXNIQ/ref=ntt_athr_dp_pel_pop_1 |
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Book Details: General Fiction; (224 pp. Well defined: Kindle/Print editions) Publisher Website: http://us.macmillan.com/theloversdictionary |
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