It's almost worth it, isn't it? Losing something, just so you can get it back.
Richard Roper, This Disaster Loves You
Brian and Lily are a happily married couple who run a popular English pub. Then one night Lily mysteriously disappears, and Brian waits seven years for her to come back to him. A postcard from her gives him hope because it suggests she plans to return. "I'm going away for awhile," the card says.
After seven years, Brian notices that someone who sounds a lot like Lily has been posting online reviews of pubs and other businesses around the country. He decides to try to track her down.
Along the way he meets Tess, a tourist whose own marriage is in ruins. She aids him in his search, and their growing relationship threatens to develop into something more — except for that Lily factor.
Meanwhile Roper keeps flashing back to Brian and Lily's romance and marriage. It turns out that the "disaster" in the novel's title refers to Brian. He is something of a hapless character, good-hearted but introverted and ill at ease much of the time. A disaster or not, he loves Lily more than anything.
The flashbacks offer clues as to what might have happened to Lily, but for most of the novel, these clues take readers in the wrong direction. The final resolution is a surprise, and yet not really. Tess, we knew all along, is there for a reason. Perhaps the title means something else entirely.
No comments:
Post a Comment