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A review by amym84
A Lover's Discourse by Xiaolu Guo
3.0
A Lover's Discourse is the story of an unnamed Chinese woman who moves to Britain to work on her dissertation. While feeling adrift and alone in a new place as a foreigner she meets a landscape architect and they begin to build a life together. The story plays out like a recollection of the pair with a heavy focus placed on "her". The characters formal names are never reveals which I think lends itself well to including the reader within the story.
I listened to an audiobook of A Lover's Discourse and honestly, I think it was the narrator Cindy Kay who really kept my attention rapt within the story. Her voice is crisp and clear and she moved from the "her" to the "him" characters with ease enough that I often forgot there was only one person narrating the story. It was a little difficult as first to discern the beginning of each new segment of story. As each chapter, or segment, begins with a small bit of rumination or dialogue from the segment as a header. At first it seemed like the book was repeating itself. It took me a couple times to realize these instances were headers kind of a preliminary introduction into what is going to be discussed next.
The story was not what I was really expecting though. With a title like A Lover's Discourse I just maybe expected more of a romance and while there is a romantic story, it just doesn't unfold the way I'm typically used to my romances unfolding. The story is very seated in reality, it's not flowery it's not overly fantastical. I suppose if I'm looking at the story clearly it's probably one of the most true to life relationships I've ever read about.
I was really interested in the focus placed on "her" experiences of emigrating to Britain. I loved her ruminations on what it means to be a woman on her own in a foreign country with no family. Pretty much starting completely over. I loved the frank discussions of language and culture differences between "her" and "him". Although I never really warmed up "him" and therefore, I wasn't ever really keen on their overall relationship. Like I said it's not an overly romantic or flowery type story, but I didn't feel their connection. I felt like there was a disconnect between what each of them wanted out of their life together that never really gets solved. Maybe that's a commentary on relationships in general. How it is difficult to be 100% on board with your partner in all their endeavors and needs and desires without sacrificing some of your own and vice versa.
Overall, it was an interesting, sometime eye-opening read. This is the first book I've ready by Xialou Guo, but I'm certainly interested in checking out her other works.
*Copy provided by the publisher in exchange for an honest review.
I listened to an audiobook of A Lover's Discourse and honestly, I think it was the narrator Cindy Kay who really kept my attention rapt within the story. Her voice is crisp and clear and she moved from the "her" to the "him" characters with ease enough that I often forgot there was only one person narrating the story. It was a little difficult as first to discern the beginning of each new segment of story. As each chapter, or segment, begins with a small bit of rumination or dialogue from the segment as a header. At first it seemed like the book was repeating itself. It took me a couple times to realize these instances were headers kind of a preliminary introduction into what is going to be discussed next.
The story was not what I was really expecting though. With a title like A Lover's Discourse I just maybe expected more of a romance and while there is a romantic story, it just doesn't unfold the way I'm typically used to my romances unfolding. The story is very seated in reality, it's not flowery it's not overly fantastical. I suppose if I'm looking at the story clearly it's probably one of the most true to life relationships I've ever read about.
I was really interested in the focus placed on "her" experiences of emigrating to Britain. I loved her ruminations on what it means to be a woman on her own in a foreign country with no family. Pretty much starting completely over. I loved the frank discussions of language and culture differences between "her" and "him". Although I never really warmed up "him" and therefore, I wasn't ever really keen on their overall relationship. Like I said it's not an overly romantic or flowery type story, but I didn't feel their connection. I felt like there was a disconnect between what each of them wanted out of their life together that never really gets solved. Maybe that's a commentary on relationships in general. How it is difficult to be 100% on board with your partner in all their endeavors and needs and desires without sacrificing some of your own and vice versa.
Overall, it was an interesting, sometime eye-opening read. This is the first book I've ready by Xialou Guo, but I'm certainly interested in checking out her other works.
*Copy provided by the publisher in exchange for an honest review.