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A review by vivisms_82
The Last Letter from Your Lover by Jojo Moyes

reflective medium-paced
  • Loveable characters? It's complicated
  • Diverse cast of characters? No

2.5

How is this book rated so high?? THIS IS NOT A LOVE STORY. Yeah it has melodramatic romance in it but no, would not call it a love story. I think it was trying to be Casablanca but instead we got the quality of All About Steve. Needless to say, unpopular review ahead...

Wealthy, married 1960s woman Jennifer, who never reads newspapers, meets Anthony a journalist in the French Riviera and they allegedly fall in love. This affair is justified to the reader because
Jennifer's husband doesn't appreciate her or her brain. He won't give her a divorce either unless she gives up their child Esme and he knows that will hurt her. He is unoriginally depicted as a mega beast who even pays off folks that have developed cancer from his asbestos work in exchange for their silence. Like seriously.
Anthony on the other hand has had multiple
affairs with married women but we are supposed to believe that now he has met Jennifer, that has stopped. Ahuh. Sure.


Anyhoo, so this is a story about societal constraints, expectations but ultimately about timing. Which for me, that is fine. However, I found the execution of this story supremely dull, repetitive and uninspired. Also, the coincidence that
both Jennifer and Anthony would lose ex partners to cancer and find themselves both single parents at about THE SAME TIME was preposterous.


The first time Jennifer tries to run away, she is conveniently in a car accident and has amnesia so is unaware for months that she even had a lover. No one tells her. Oh and Laurence conveniently intercepts a letter from Anthony that would have cleared everything up. But you know I'll let that slide - he's pissed because his wife was cheating. And it seems he starts having affairs only after he finds out about Jen's infidelity. Two wrongs make a right in making it clear to us just how awful Laurence is and for the plot to move along. Anyhoo, was so irritating how long it took them to figure out it was Felipe who had died and not Anthony!! I was banging my head. The second time Jennifer she tries to make a life with Anthony, her letter is discarded by Anthony's boss; his boss feels he is protecting Anthony because Jennifer caused him to have a bender that nearly killed him so his boss was like "enough of this toxic woman".
Fair enough I guess. 

The last third of the book is set in 2003 and we meet Ellie, who has without a doubt got to be one of the most insufferable characters I have ever come across. After a few pages of her I nearly DNF this book. I only persevered because I wanted to know how the story of Jennifer and Anthony ended. Considering Ellie is a journalist and modern woman, it is hard to fathom, when we learn later on that she not once
communicated to John how she felt or that she expected him to eventually leave his wife was beyond me.
Really?? Also, when Rory finds out Ellie
is in a relationship with John, a married man
and accuses him of being judgemental and pompous, I had to remind myself this Ellie is just a character. But I got the impression the Ms Moyes again tried to justify Rory's opinion because he had been on the
receiving end of infidelity
and that is why he felt so strongly. Not because it is umm.... just a low grade, despicable thing to be part of. And no I am not talking about morals, I'm talking about having a basic conscience, you know, where you feel crummy when you realise your actions could hurt/ have hurt someone? A friend of mine was in similar situation to John and Ellie and she
justified her adultery with the attitude of "the heart wants what the heart wants and that it was her "right to be happy". I get that. I do. But at the expense of someone else's truth, their happiness? I'm not so sure. And to only get a little of that person here and there and never fully? And how do you even trust a cheating married man? I don't get it. A married man pursuing me is a turn off. Says a lot about a man (or woman for that matter) to ignore right and wrong and take that extra step. Because you do have a choice. And no I don't think I am a saint. Far from it. I just struggle to get the appeal of dating someone who is already in a relationship - married or otherwise. I get why married people might do it - maybe for some excitement? An ego boost if they feel undervalued in their relationship? Not saying its ok either! But being someone's bit on the side is just not for me.
I am most definitely alone in my opinion! To me, infidelity is not a love story.

The best part was getting to know Jennifer and Anthony in their
later years; looking back on their life and experience with wisdom and perspective.
Jojo Moyes did that part really well and with much truth. Unfortunately, it comes after having to read 75% of the book first. I would have LOVED to have heard more about
their second chance and life thereafter for them.


Jennifer was trapped in her marriage in 1960s London; what was Ellie's excuse? God what had 40 years of struggle and womens' lib gained us? To s**t on their hard work and behave like selfish schmucks? Sorry I thought I was done with my hatred of Ellie ;) But maybe that is the point, that women now thankfully have the right to divorce and to choose whom they love without societal judgement and laws that prevent such things to happen. Either way, this book was not for me. 
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