Book Review: The Lover’s Dictionary by David Levithan

The Lover's Dictionary by David Levithan

Hardcover, 211 pages

Published January 4th 2011 by Farrar, Straus and Giroux

Read on January 17, 2012

My rating: 5 of 5 stars

basis, n. 

There has to be a moment at the beginning when you wonder whether you’re in love with the person or in love with the feeling of love itself.

If the moment doesn’t pass, that’s it—you’re done. And if the momentdoes pass, it never goes that far. It stands in the distance, ready for whenever you want it back. Sometimes it’s even there when you thought you were searching for something else, like an escape route, or your lover’s face.
How does one talk about love? Do we even have the right words to describe something that can be both utterly mundane and completely transcendent, pulling us out of our everyday lives and making us feel a part of something greater than ourselves? Taking a unique approach to this problem, the nameless narrator of David Levithan’s The Lover’s Dictionary has constructed the story of his relationship as a dictionary. Through these short entries, he provides an intimate window into the great events and quotidian trifles of being within a couple, giving us an indelible and deeply moving portrait of love in our time.


My Thoughts:


The Lover’s Dictionary is just an awesome, unique, fantastic read! You would never have thought that one word can be defined into a lot of sensible things, particularly how it applies in our life.

How do you define love? Can it even be defined? This short read can bring about every sappy thing out of you, but in a good way. I really am amazed at how David Levithan writes. It’s straightforward and real, just the way I like it. There’s just something in how he writes that I’m always captivated. In this book, we read into a certain couple’s story, written in how a dictionary is written, and you have to read between the lines most of the time, to know the whole story, which is really interesting and something new. I also learned a lot of new words ( i had to look into the dictionary for the meaning of the word before reading how the guy defined the word). Really really productive read.

I really recommend this to everyone. While it’s a fast read, I certainly learned a lot. just love it!

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