David Levithan
“recant, v.
I want to take back at least half of the “I love you”s, because I didn’t mean them as much as the other ones. I want to take back the book of artsy photos I gave you, because you didn’t get it and said it was hipster trash. I want to take back what I said about you being an emotional zombie. I want to take back the time I called you “honey” in front of your sister and you looked like I had just shown her pictures of us having sex. I want to take back the wineglass I broke when I was mad, because it was a nice wineglass and the argument would have ended anyway. I want to take back the time we had sex in a rent-a-car, not because I feel bad about the people who got in the car after us, but because it was massively uncomfortable. I want to take back the trust I had while you were away in Austin. I want to take back the time I said you were a genius, because I was being sarcastic and I should have just said you’d hurt my feelings. I want to take back the secrets I told you so I can decide now whether to tell them to you again. I want to take back the piece of me that lies in you, to see if I truly miss it. I want to take back at least half the “I love you”s, because it feels safer that way.”
I read this book within a day. It was beautifully written and not your "typical" novel. It reads like poetry and keeps the reader intrigued all the way through the book. Levithan tells the story in a very neat way - he writes the love story as a series of dictionary entries and highlights parts of the relationship in each of the entries. The entries make a reader happy, sad, and angry - they also make you laugh and your heart may break a little bit. The love story is real - messy and complicated but touching.
The story is about an unnamed couple who's love story is being told through dictionary entries. The narrator is a guy who is writing the entries while the girl just enhances the narrator. As there relationship goes on, it gets harder for the both of them (like it typically does for everyone in a relationship). Readers are left wondering if they decide to stay together or go there own way.
The timeline of the story umps around quite a bit but it does make sense in the end. Readers are always at the edge of their seats to what comes next - what will change in their relationship. There are equal parts of sad and happy and definitely has its lovey-dovey parts. This was a great easy read, I definitely recommend it!
Just wanted to share some of the dictionary entries with you! Here are some of them:
- better, adj. and adv.
Will is ever get better?
It better.
Will it ever get better?
It better. - bolster, v.
I am very careful whenever I know you're on the phone with your father, I know you'll come to me eventually, and we'll talk you through it. But I have to wait - you need your time. In the meantime, I'm careful what songs I play. I try to speak to you with my selections. - corrode, v.
I spent all this time building a relationship. Then one night I left the window open, and it started to rust.
Read and find out what the other dictionary entries read about! Till the next review!
Rebekka.
No comments:
Post a Comment