Hello Reader!
I hope the wrap of your summer is coming to a beautiful end :) I know I did this post a little last minute buttttt it’s never too late to rave over a good poetry book. Especially The Lover’s Dictionary. I was actually introduced to this book in high school and now it's a part of my comfort books. Written by David Levithan, The Lover’s Dictionary is a unique book written to describe the reality of a relationship between our two main characters. As the story is broken up by the definition or correlating words.
The book is beautiful, with the original copy, the subtle highlights of Red for the letter V along with the heart of words found throughout the book, I’m not sure how to describe it without over-romanticizing it too much but it really feels poetic Haha. Unfortunately, I can’t show off my physical copy since I’m lending it to someone so the aesthetics of a virtual book will just have to do tonight readers.
Throughout the book, we learn more about the relationship the author has with their previous significant other. The relationship includes everything, the ups and downs, the dirty and the good. We get to see the little moments, where they both learn about one another, fall into being in a relationship, and essentially just love.
We see this with the poem “breathtaking,” simple and short “Those mornings when we kiss and surrender for an hour before we say a single word”
“celibacy” too is a short poem that truly speaks volumes
“n/a”
;)
I can’t help but fall in love with how this couple fell for one another, at least in every perfect romantic scenario I could imagine with this poetry. But soon you see the hard truth, the reality that this relationship was eventually met with infidelity, hurt, and pain. The side we see most often when cheating is involved in a relationship is the broken one, and our author describes their experiences perfectly.
I hate to keep picking the shorter poems, but they are my favorite, the way Leviathan writes what are simply feelings and emotions continue to just strike the pains of heartbreak so easily. “breach” is my favorite example of this, it's where we get a taste of what happens at the end, there was no happy ending or forever in love, it was all for nothing.
I know this book is alphabetical, so it isn’t really fair to compare first to last, however “zenith” in my opinion was the absolute perfect way to wrap up this book. There isn’t much insight into the significant other here, just a location, no activities, emotions, or anything to indicate who or what they are. They are just there, but our author gets to be what they are in their entire relationship, here in these few sentences. This was the pressure the moment when what seemed to be peace was disturbed (drawing this from the previous poems) but it is also never mentioned to be negative or positive, it is simply suspense. But we the readers know this, why would the author find this to be “… [the] last moment of ignorance?” Just like the title, this was the high point, where what was the best of their relationship could never continue forth, from being the high point, it was also a breaking point. The match of definition to the story and overall, what it does to describe the relationship at its end, while also AT the end is a very smart move in my opinion, very very witty Leviathan.
Overall, reading this again really reminded me why this book is in my room so often, it’s comforting. Of course, that is difficult to say with the heartbreaking end but what’s comforting about this book is how it is a reality, it was the harsh reality of our author’s relationship. Everything looked so perfect, even though arguments our author shows it's necessary to understand that is what makes two people work, but infidelity is single sided in this case. The abrupt change in the dynamic between the two because one partner broke the high of the other in a controllable situation is real. This is what a relationship is, it was never described as “the end” but rather the story of what occurred between the two.
With lots of love
- The Library Diary ~☆
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