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Sunday 8 December 2013

The Love of My Life by Louise Douglas - Book Review

the love of my life, book review, louise douglas, love of my life book 
Synopsis: After the sudden death of husband Luca, Olivia [Liv] finds herself bereft of her companion in life. Spurned by their families for the embarrassment and emotional ramifications of their ill advised union and subsequent elopement, Liv makes the gut wrenching decision to relocate back to where she and Luca first met. The Love of My Life is set to the picturesque beach front town of Watersford, home to Marinella's, the family restaurant and backdrop to Liv and Luca's early life, both together and apart.

With no family or friends to speak of, and only the almost tangible memories of Luca to console herself with, Liv finds solace in the company of the only Marinella who doesn't express disdain at her arrival - Marc, Luca's twin brother. In their desolation and grief, the pair develop a mutual need for one another, both physically and emotionally.
 
Juggling her grief and guilt whilst enduring the perpetual hostility of her in-laws, Liv begins a job as a research assistant at the local university, working for a taciturn professor on his controversial biography of a Watersford author. The Love of My Life takes us through Liv's past and present, both with and without Luca and her struggle to find her new place in life.

Thoughts:

Douglas has taken a straight forward plot, and stock characters (i.e. the death of a spouse, inhospitable in-laws, extra marital affairs) and shaken off the usual literary stereotypes and assumptions one would usually associate with them. For instance, the affair is refrained from being regarded as anything sordid or disrespectful to Luca's memory. Liv expresses guilt and remorse for her actions and her grief is at times all consuming to the point where it isn't a far stretch to feel sympathy at her situation. Isolated and chastised for her decisions, both in the past and present, Liv is almost a social pariah, judged for the indiscretions and mishaps of her youth that have doggedly clung to her reputation as an adult.

As the story progresses, Douglas flicks back and forth through Liv's timeline, alternating between the present, newly widowed state and Liv's younger self.  The narrative is at times melodiously written, which I found myself thinking was quite odd for a first person perspective - it seemed out of keeping with the accessible style of Liv's tone. However as the story reminds you towards the end, it is in fact a written log of Liv's life post-Luca. Upon this realisation, I appreciated Douglas's knack of commenting on the smaller facets of a scene to create a world for her character that we're permitted unfettered access to. I never felt it to be a biased narrative, as although Liv discusses what could easily be perceived as a checkered past (through noone's fault but her own), she has no qualms in accepting her blame where due.

I personally would have preferred a bit more development for the supporting characters. Much of what we have is from Liv's perspective and from her younger self we know that naivety is not always lacking. I was intrigued by Nathalie, Liv's sister-in-law and Marc's wife, who is especially thorny to Liv and her return. Although we are given justification and insight into her motivations and attitude, I would have liked more interaction between her and Liv. 


Have you read The Love of My Life?

5 comments:

  1. I haven't read this but after your lovely review, I would certainly be interested too! x

    amuchprettierpuzzle.blogspot.com

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  2. I and and my boyfriend dated for two years and we where planning to get married soon then all of a sudden his love for me started changing and he started avoiding me recently he just made it clear to me that he is no longer interested in the engagement, i thought he was joking but to my notice it was getting serious as he now charts and move out with his new found girlfriend I tried to lure and beg him if their is anything I have done wrong he should forgive me but he never listened all he says is that I should get it into my thick score that the relationship is over (meaning my relationship with him is over)I further tried all means to get him back but nothing worked as at last I was able to get a spell caster contact named Priest Ajigar I heard his spell works in terms of restoring broken marriage and relationship. I contacted him and he assured me with in the next three days he will come back for me, after three days it really did happen he came back and he have left the other girl now, i never could have got the love of my life back if not Priest Ajigar who did it for me and my advice to all you out there searching for a genuine and powerful spell caster just know that Priest Ajifar spell works and its the best email him on (priestajigarspells@live.com)

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