The Opposite of Love by Julie Buxbaum | Fiction | DONNE TEMPO
The Opposite of Love by Julie Buxbaum
June/12/08 01:44 PM Filed in: Fiction
By Cecie O’Bryon England
Julie Buxbaum’s The Opposite of Love, (The Dial Pres; January 2008. ISBN-10: 0385341229. $16.50 hardcover) is an exceptional first novel. The main character, Emily, is an ivy league educated New York lawyer with an attentive boyfriend, an absentee father, a deceased mother, and a supportive grandfather.
She has the requisite friendly work colleagues and feisty best friend.
This idealized urban life is the basis of numerable stories, however, in The Opposite of Love, Buxbaum has a well-developed main character, one who eventually becomes a confident heroine.
“You are your own worst enemy,” says Jess, Emily’s best friend, “It’s like you get pleasure out of breaking your own heart.” Emily is a believable angst ridden searcher.
In
Chapter One she breaks up with her boyfriend
Andrew because he is planning on proposing.
In the course of the novel Emily faces up to the sexual harassment at her major law firm, and surprises herself by quitting. After again being surprised by her depression, evidenced in an inability to get off her couch, she finds her way to therapy and job hunting and family relationship building through communication.
After all the hurdles Emily must face up to the fact that she loves and misses Andrew.
One fascinatingly real aspect of this book is Emily’s grandfather’s death. Emily develops so much as a character that she is able to face her fears of death and abandonment and say to her grandfather while he is dying, “I am going to miss you.”
Grandpa Jack says that he will miss her too. It is a real acceptance of the circle of life. Jack is able to say, “Come sit with me. I want you right here.”
The Opposite of Love reads like a study in self-awareness. Emily’s fear that love doesn’t last forever stunts her ability to live fully. She must dismantle all of the expectations in her life in order to find her true goals and feelings. The reader can clearly see that changes must be made and will be rooting for her.
Buxbaum’s characters are real, her language poetic, and her plot riveting, the way true individuals are. It is a very enjoyable read.
Julie Buxbaum’s The Opposite of Love, (The Dial Pres; January 2008. ISBN-10: 0385341229. $16.50 hardcover) is an exceptional first novel. The main character, Emily, is an ivy league educated New York lawyer with an attentive boyfriend, an absentee father, a deceased mother, and a supportive grandfather.
She has the requisite friendly work colleagues and feisty best friend.
This idealized urban life is the basis of numerable stories, however, in The Opposite of Love, Buxbaum has a well-developed main character, one who eventually becomes a confident heroine.
“You are your own worst enemy,” says Jess, Emily’s best friend, “It’s like you get pleasure out of breaking your own heart.” Emily is a believable angst ridden searcher.
In the course of the novel Emily faces up to the sexual harassment at her major law firm, and surprises herself by quitting. After again being surprised by her depression, evidenced in an inability to get off her couch, she finds her way to therapy and job hunting and family relationship building through communication.
After all the hurdles Emily must face up to the fact that she loves and misses Andrew.
One fascinatingly real aspect of this book is Emily’s grandfather’s death. Emily develops so much as a character that she is able to face her fears of death and abandonment and say to her grandfather while he is dying, “I am going to miss you.”
Grandpa Jack says that he will miss her too. It is a real acceptance of the circle of life. Jack is able to say, “Come sit with me. I want you right here.”
The Opposite of Love reads like a study in self-awareness. Emily’s fear that love doesn’t last forever stunts her ability to live fully. She must dismantle all of the expectations in her life in order to find her true goals and feelings. The reader can clearly see that changes must be made and will be rooting for her.
Buxbaum’s characters are real, her language poetic, and her plot riveting, the way true individuals are. It is a very enjoyable read.