"Obstinate, adj
Sometimes it becomes a contest: Which is more stubborn, the love or the two arguing people caught within it?"
"abyss, n.
There are times when I doubt everything. When I regret everything you've taken from me, everything I've given you, and the waste of all the time i've spent on us."
"motif, n.
You don't love me as much as I love you. You don't love me as much as I love you. You don't love me as much as I love you."
"vagary, n.
The mistake is thinking there can be any antidote to the uncertainty"
"voluminous, adj.
I have already spent roughly five thousand hours asleep next to you. This has to mean something.
Jacket Copy: 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 this novel has constructed the story of his relationship as a dictionary. Through these short entries, 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.
Similar to: Nick Hornby's High Fidelity, Rob Sheffield's Love is a Mix Tape
Why I LOVED it: When I saw the premise of this book, on the jacket copy, I was really leaning toward not reading it. I feared no one would be able to pull off such a silly gimmick well. I finally decided to have a little faith in Mr. Levithan, and he proved my cynicism wrong. The dictionary format allowed him to tell a story using several little poems, and anecdotes, and single, precise, sentences with a lot of weight. It allowed him to jump chronologically in time, without it appearing awkward or forced. I don't usually like returning to books and reading them a second time, but this is definitely that rare exception that I will come back to. It's almost like a poem or a song in that I don't think it will lose its appeal or its beauty after multiple readings.
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