Book Review: Love May Fail by Matthew Quick
June 21, 2015 2 Comments
Love May Fail: What it is about
Harper (publisher) says: “An aspiring feminist and underappreciated housewife embarks on an odyssey to find human decency and goodness—and her high school English teacher—in New York Times bestselling author Matthew Quick’s offbeat masterpiece, a quirky ode to love, fate, and hair metal.
Portia Kane is having a meltdown. After escaping her ritzy Florida life and her cheating pornographer husband, she finds herself back in South Jersey, a place that remains largely unchanged from the years of her unhappy youth. Lost and alone, looking to find the goodness in the world she believes still exists, Portia sets off to save herself by saving someone else—a beloved high school English teacher who has retired after a traumatic incident.
Will a sassy nun, an ex-heroin addict, a metal-head little boy, and her hoarder mother help or hurt her chances on this madcap quest to restore a good man’s reputation and find renewed hope in the human race? Love May Fail is a story of the great highs and lows of existence: the heartache and daring choices it takes to become the person you know (deep down) you are meant to be.”
Love May Fail: What I thought
A book about helping other people and almost forgetting about yourself. People who may not deserve your help, and who certainly aren’t grateful for it. But it’s also a story about destiny: are certain things pre-ordained? There are some amazing coincidences in the story – but are they really just coincidences? Is this all meant to be?
Portia has walked out of her marriage and decides to find back her old school teacher who was such an inspiration to her. He’s not who he used to be and Portia tries to help him, but he does not want her help. She fails badly. Luckily, she is more successful in other ways, until she reaches rock bottom herself and she needs help from others.
The book is divided into several parts, each told by a different narrator, in such a way that one person picks up where the previous one left. One person is dead, but we read her letters. This is only a short section; many letters in a row can be a bit tiresome, but this was just fine.
The story was sometimes a little slow and sometimes ridiculous. It was not a perfect book, but it was interesting, and, like Quick’s previous book, The Good Luck of Right Now, discusses some important questions about life and death.
An easy and fun read, with something to think about.
Rating: 4.5 (out of 5)
Number of pages: 400
First published: 2015
I got this book: from the publisher for an honest review
Genre: contemporary fiction
Also read by this author: The Good Luck of Right Now
About Leeswammes
This sounds like a good one! I kept meaning to read his last book, too, but never did.
Hmmm…. too bad it sounded like it had potential.