Helpful Score: 5
Well written, but absolutely depressing.
Helpful Score: 3
I enjoyed the way the "forces of love" were very clearly demonstrated and how the results of the different loves were very clear and easy to understand. Bloom didn't try to obscure meaning to make the reader think too hard, which is both numbing and entertaining. I'm trying to come up with positive things to say about this book, but I didn't like it that much.
Helpful Score: 2
I loved this book... like all Bloom books you identify with every single character and finish the book seeing bits of yourself in all the characters.
Awesome and twisted story of one girls development of the emotion of Love.
Just starting reading Amy Bloom. I enjoyed the story and hope to read more of her soon. The story is a little choppy but all in all a good read.
Elizabeth Taube is an orphan by neglect; her interior designer mother barely notices her, and her father is not around since her parents divorce. She is overweight and made fun of by her peers, so she accepts love and attention from whoever offers it. First is the owner of a fur shop who encourages her to play dress up while she watches, later a favorite teacher takes an interest in her. After a series of sexual encounters with boys (and a girl) her own age, Elizabeth finally finds a loving relationship with someone her own age. Unfortunately, her husband Huddie also happens to be black, and his family and the community are not accepting of their relationship.
Written mostly in the first person, Love Invents Us follows Elizabeth's relationships with the teacher and Huddie throughout the years. Readers of Amy Bloom's short fiction know that she is masterful at depicting the intricacies and complexities of human emotions. Bloom does her protagonist justice by not offering a happy ending, but the last sentence may leave the reader puzzled. Though at times morally disturbing (because of the themes of sexual abuse and the protagonists acceptance of some of her early relationships as normal), Love Invents Us is elegantly written.
Written mostly in the first person, Love Invents Us follows Elizabeth's relationships with the teacher and Huddie throughout the years. Readers of Amy Bloom's short fiction know that she is masterful at depicting the intricacies and complexities of human emotions. Bloom does her protagonist justice by not offering a happy ending, but the last sentence may leave the reader puzzled. Though at times morally disturbing (because of the themes of sexual abuse and the protagonists acceptance of some of her early relationships as normal), Love Invents Us is elegantly written.
