Review: Like a Love Story
My rating: 3 of 5 stars
3 stars.
The most important four-letter word in our history will always be LOVE. That's what we are fighting for. That's who we are. Love is our legacy.
Like a Love Story is an important book, it's a meaningful book, and one that I think many readers will connect with. I enjoyed reading it and definitely got some feels during many of the difficult scenes, but this book didn't quite do it for me.
Its 1989 and best friends Judy and Art both fall in love with new kid in school, Reza, an Iranian boy who fears his identity both because of his family's culture and because of the media's portrayal of AIDS. This triangle is set amid the background of activism and Judy's uncle Steven who is fighting AIDS himself.
There were parts that were magical: the characters themselves (even the minor ones) were impeccably crafted as whole, imperfect people, the writing had some beautiful phrases, and the courageous spirit of the characters and their families to try to understand each other and to forgive was beautiful.
I struggled with the pacing; it wasn't terrible, but it halted at times and the jumps forward in time were not quite perfect. I was sometimes frustrated with the characters as well. For instance, at one point Art is feeling down on himself and is lamenting the fact that he hasn't found love and will never find what Steven has. I wanted to pull him out of the book and say, "You're 17 years old!". I understand that we all can get melodramatic but that just seemed excessive. And that's just one example of a couple overly dramatic aspects to this novel. Finally, the ending sort of petered along and while the jump in time at the end was interesting, I didn't fully understand Art's choice so I was left feeling a little confused.
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