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The Lover's Dictionary

David Levithan

Start date: January 1, 2015

Finish date: January 1, 2015

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Mar 03, 2022 Debbie rated it liked it

Shelves: multigenre

This is a quick read, if you're looking for something short. Basically, it's the story of a romantic relationship between the narrator and their love interest. My brain automatically slotted a male in as the narrator, since the author is male, and then I put the love interest as a female, since I am in a heterosexual relationship. However, I'm not sure there were all that many bits, if any, that were gender specific - so it could probably work for readers of any gender identity or sexual identit This is a quick read, if you're looking for something short. Basically, it's the story of a romantic relationship between the narrator and their love interest. My brain automatically slotted a male in as the narrator, since the author is male, and then I put the love interest as a female, since I am in a heterosexual relationship. However, I'm not sure there were all that many bits, if any, that were gender specific - so it could probably work for readers of any gender identity or sexual identity.

Every page to three pages, there is a word, like a dictionary entry, and then a story about the relationship. The narrator appears to have met his someone in a dating app after having several bad experiences, and it was a good spark from the start. (view spoiler)

The thing about this book, though, is the entries are not definitions, per se, but stories that hint at a word, like "gamut" or "meander." The stories are demonstrating the word, although sometimes there are just ruminations on a word, rather than a story. And the entries are given in alphabetical order, but the stories are not in chronological order, so you have to pick up clues about the relationship's development (and maybe downfall?) along the way. In that way, it's a mystery, and I enjoyed the way it unfolded.

I will say it reminded me a little of Encyclopedia of an Ordinary Life, which is a much longer book. It tells the story of Rosenthal's life, so it's much more wide spanning than this romantic relationship, but her entries also jump around in her timeline. I don't know that Levithan was trying to do the same thing as Rosenthal (I don't know if The Lover's Dictionary is based on a relationship Levithan was in), but I see the parallels in presentation and probably writing process. I think I would love to look at this book more closely with other writers who might be interested in telling stories with non-narrative texts. ...more

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Feb 07, 2011 Gina rated it it was amazing

Shelves: fiction

Boy and girl meet on an internet dating site, and their story is told from A-Z through these dictionary definitions. Very smart, honest, and romantic without being sappy.

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Feb 10, 2011 Chelsea rated it it was amazing

Shelves: out-of-the-ordinary, favorites

Intense little book. The author uses dictionary style intries to allow a glimpse of an unamed couple's relationship. The fact that he can use words seemingly unrealted to anything "lovey" to illustrate aspects of a relationship shows how all encompassing love is in our lives. My favorite "definition" is ubiquitous. "When it's going well, the fact of it is everywhere."...
"The hitch, of course, is that when it's going badly, it's in all the same places."

Yes! ...more

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