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karieh13's review
3.0
When I first began “I Could Love You” – the title of the book threw me a bit. It just sounded so…halfhearted? The “could” was such a qualifier that I didn’t know what to expect.
What I got was a book that starts off with what seem too many characters who are too interconnected, but that grows in emotional depth and honesty. The reader is given a view of love and sex at many stages of life, in many different forms and from very differing points of view.
Some loves are secret, some are brand new, some decades old and undergoing great change. The reader is able to view the relationships from both partner’s perspectives which at times proves fascinating.
“What more can he offer her? Love? This thing that women distinguish from sex, the sticky residue that’s left over when you take sex out of the equation. The thing that lasts, where everyone knows sex is fleeting. But love and sex can’t be separated like this, they’re both somewhere in the seething mess along with vanity and habit and dread and self-doubt. Even on its own no one knows what love is. Is it the flush of infatuation? Is it the confession of desperate need? Or a heightened form of friendship?”
To which the answer seems to be, it is all of these things and more. It depends on the circumstances of the people, the way they meet, where they are in their lives at the time, what their pasts and futures hold.
These characters are torn between those they love and desire and those who love or desire them. Which is stronger? Which proves to be of a greater power? Desire or being desired? Loving or being loved? Beauty or being seen as beautiful?
“…beauty. We define it so variously that it doesn’t exist. What does exist, what remains constant, is our feelings about beauty: what we seek is a certain feeling about ourselves which is stimulated by the perception of others. The entire process actually happens in the mind, in our own minds and in the minds of the people round us.”
Some characters stood out more than most…Belinda and Tom and Meg and the effects of infidelity. Alice and Jack and Chloe and young love and heartbreak.
And by the end of the book, after looking at love from all sides and places and times, the title makes much more sense. It isn’t half-hearted at all. It’s gentle hearted, a whisper of hope, that after all, “”I Could Love You”.
What I got was a book that starts off with what seem too many characters who are too interconnected, but that grows in emotional depth and honesty. The reader is given a view of love and sex at many stages of life, in many different forms and from very differing points of view.
Some loves are secret, some are brand new, some decades old and undergoing great change. The reader is able to view the relationships from both partner’s perspectives which at times proves fascinating.
“What more can he offer her? Love? This thing that women distinguish from sex, the sticky residue that’s left over when you take sex out of the equation. The thing that lasts, where everyone knows sex is fleeting. But love and sex can’t be separated like this, they’re both somewhere in the seething mess along with vanity and habit and dread and self-doubt. Even on its own no one knows what love is. Is it the flush of infatuation? Is it the confession of desperate need? Or a heightened form of friendship?”
To which the answer seems to be, it is all of these things and more. It depends on the circumstances of the people, the way they meet, where they are in their lives at the time, what their pasts and futures hold.
These characters are torn between those they love and desire and those who love or desire them. Which is stronger? Which proves to be of a greater power? Desire or being desired? Loving or being loved? Beauty or being seen as beautiful?
“…beauty. We define it so variously that it doesn’t exist. What does exist, what remains constant, is our feelings about beauty: what we seek is a certain feeling about ourselves which is stimulated by the perception of others. The entire process actually happens in the mind, in our own minds and in the minds of the people round us.”
Some characters stood out more than most…Belinda and Tom and Meg and the effects of infidelity. Alice and Jack and Chloe and young love and heartbreak.
And by the end of the book, after looking at love from all sides and places and times, the title makes much more sense. It isn’t half-hearted at all. It’s gentle hearted, a whisper of hope, that after all, “”I Could Love You”.
alee's review
3.0
I was very excited about reading this book, based on the description. However, in the end, it was a good book but not a great one. If I could give 3.5 stars, that's what I would have chosen.
The good: The author's writing is at times excellent. I also appreciated another insight into cheating (although it certainly doesn't excuse it). Clearly "thinking about someone else" rather than ones' self, is a major theme. The 2 main story lines, Belinda-Tom & Jack-Alice, were well-developed.
The bad: In the early chapters, it felt like a new character was walking into the picture in every chapter. With so many different characters, it was hard to really know any of them as well and some seemed like unfinished sketches. Clearly this works well on tv or the movies where you can see visually what the character is wearing, how the character acts, etc. but it's sometimes nicer to have just a few characters that are deeply examined in a book. (For example, Laura could have had more time.)
Summary: The book reflects many of the types of relationships that are out there right now. It's difficult to stay married and find compromises and this book shows some ways to get there. On the flip side, it also shows how difficult it is to find someone - how Austin is still relevant, how right choices are hard and wrong choices are easy, and how we can misjudge easily. If you want a quick read that mirrors many of the current media with a few good story lines, this would be the book.
The good: The author's writing is at times excellent. I also appreciated another insight into cheating (although it certainly doesn't excuse it). Clearly "thinking about someone else" rather than ones' self, is a major theme. The 2 main story lines, Belinda-Tom & Jack-Alice, were well-developed.
The bad: In the early chapters, it felt like a new character was walking into the picture in every chapter. With so many different characters, it was hard to really know any of them as well and some seemed like unfinished sketches. Clearly this works well on tv or the movies where you can see visually what the character is wearing, how the character acts, etc. but it's sometimes nicer to have just a few characters that are deeply examined in a book. (For example, Laura could have had more time.)
Summary: The book reflects many of the types of relationships that are out there right now. It's difficult to stay married and find compromises and this book shows some ways to get there. On the flip side, it also shows how difficult it is to find someone - how Austin is still relevant, how right choices are hard and wrong choices are easy, and how we can misjudge easily. If you want a quick read that mirrors many of the current media with a few good story lines, this would be the book.
florapost's review
4.0
I loved the author's earlier book The Secret Intensity of Everyday Life, and this one was just as wonderful. I inhaled the very tiny details of the lives of the characters, and the very loving way Nicholson tells their story.
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