a midsummer night's dream
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Strong recommendations are hard to ignore. They don't always pan out, often the books which others feel most strongly about will disappoint when you read them but I always try. And a good thing too.
A writer called Charlie Baxter wakes one midsummer's night from a bad dream and goes for a stroll through his neighbourhood in Ann Arbor, Michigan. He walks to the University football stadium and from his seat in the stands sees a young couple making love on the fifty-yard line (a not uncommon experience apparently). Later he sees a friend, Bradley Smith, sitting on a bench. Smith tells him what his next book should be about and proceeds to tell him some tales of love. The rest of the novel hears tales from those others in his life, his philosophy teaching neighbour, two young lovebirds who work in his coffee shop and two soon-to-be-ex-wives along the way. There is a lot of humour to be found in such a universal subject, especially in the often sad figure of Smith. As described by Chloe, his employee, he is '...a gentleman, and sweet, and he's so smart you can tell thinking bothers him and takes up a great deal of his time'. In one hilarious episode he is forced to steal his own dog back from his sister after she refuses to return it after a period of care. The dog, also named Bradley, is his only source of love after the split from his first wife who embarks on a lesbian relationship. It is her who, after telling Baxter her side of the story, points out that:
'You think that what I've just told you is an anecdote. But really it isn't. It's my whole life. It's the only story I have.'
Baxter doesn't settle for just a humorous rendition of love. His neighbour, Harry Ginsberg, and his wife have a fractious relationship with their youngest son Aaron. Frequently he calls to shout abuse and accusation down the phone and then to demand money which Harry dutifully sends. He does after all love his son regardless. But his attempt to break this cycle of destructive behaviour ends in eventual silence from his prodigal son.
'America, as everyone knows, is large enough to lose a child in...As the tongue goes to the missing tooth, so do we poke and pry at his absence. He is our null.'
Perhaps the best example of the success with which Baxter mixes the tone of his writing, making it bittersweet, is in Bradley's recounting of his second honeymoon. In two pages Baxter supersedes On Chesil Beach. Through the seemingly simple language of a husband and wife discussing what love means to them whilst in post-coital slumber, you know that this marriage is doomed from the start.
'I had my hand cupped around her breast, and she had her hand on my cheek, and we were having an argument, though still making it sound like love talk. "Bradley, what are we going to do here?"...You can have good sex on your honeymoon and still suspect there's something fishy going on.'
The book also conceals its most powerful emotional hit in its young lovers, they have the most to learn of course, but the extent to which fate intervenes is unexpected even when it has been made painfully clear earlier on and Baxter skillfully brings his characters together near the novels close.
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Beautiful
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I'll concede that the title doesn't do this book any favours. I think some could automatically assume that it's chick lit and not bother with this book. And what a mistake that would be.
I loved this book. I can only give my opinion and this is it. I loved the writing (for that alone I will be stalking the writer for more works to devour), I loved the realness, I loved the humour, I loved the heartbreak (in a twisted way) and... I loved the love.
This book is worth the time you will take out to read it.
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A real banquet of a book.
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The Feast of Love is a little like a multi-course meal, with a tongue-in-cheek appetizer to get you going immediately; some light, amusing scenes to work up your appetite for the main course; some real meat to the themes and major conflicts, which provide nourishment for the soul; and a sweet conclusion to make you satisfied and happy. I loved it. Baxter begins his novel as a character within the story, an insomniac writer named Charlie, who is walking late at night when he meets Bradley, another insomniac, on a park bench. When Bradley tells him how he should title his book, comments on a proposed opening sentence, and suggests the subject, "Charlie," amusingly, follows his advice. As we learn of Bradley's love troubles, along with those of a wide variety of other characters of different ages and backgrounds, we gain clear insight into their personalities and motivations. Ultimately, we know not only who they are but what love is, not only for them but for ourselves--love in its most universal definitions and dimensions. Baxter wears his significant literary talents lightly, presenting scenes that often perplex their participants while the reader looks on with ironic, sometimes amused, detachment. But the reader empathizes with the characters at the same time that s/he observes them. Chloe,a young, punkish teenager who loves Oscar, a skinny former junkie, is a particularly memorable character--so finely and sympathetically drawn that many parents (and other fogies) may see teenage romance in an entirely new way. An elderly couple longing for their son, who has disappeared, shows the depths of parental love and provides a perfect, complete foil to Chloe and Oscar. Bradley and his wives, along with the lovers for whom they leave him, further illuminate the complexities of love and relationships, a reason some have described this book as a modern retelling of A Midsummer Night's Dream. Poignant, sometimes sad, and very moving, the book offers a view of love which communicates directly with the reader's heart. Mary Whipple
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