For Love

I don’t read much ‘women’s literature’, but I do admire what Sue Miller does. She brings us into the inside of family or a marriage and shows us what it’s like to live there. So what you say, so do many other writers. Well maybe so, but I like Miller’s non-saccharine depictions of the innermost lives of her characters. So many times while reading her books I almost feel like a voyeur; like I know too much about a situation I have no business knowing about. Her characters are fully human; flawed and perplexing and she always draws me into her stories without seeming to try. Her narratives have an almost ‘by the way’ quality to them. Like she’ll tell you all about this, but won’t go off in a huff if you decide not to show more listen.

I also like her novels because I don’t have relationships like the ones she shows us. Tight-knit families that live in each other’s pockets. Bonded brothers and sisters. Complex and intimate couples. My relationships are more distant; more polite, less entangled, so it’s fascinating to read of such foreign details in the lives of others. Maybe people don’t really live like this, I don’t know, but Miller makes it believable.

The title For Love really sums it up. What do people do for it? What does it do to people? What kinds are there? How can one cope with either too much or too little? And, as one astute man noted at the end of the book, does one want it in one’s life or in the center of one’s life? Obsession, too, comes into the equation as it so often does. The thin line between love and obsession is as thin as the one between love and hate.
Our main character Lottie is not only writing a series of articles about love, she’s also in the front row witnessing the latest in her brother’s on-again-off-again relationship with childhood sweetheart, Elizabeth. It is as dramatic and fraught with tension as it was when they were young. Only now things are complicated by Elizabeth’s marriage to Lawrence, something Cameraon swore he would prevent years ago. Lottie feels guilt over suggesting Elizabeth call him since he’s living in town again, something she is convinced led directly to the tragedy that followed.

Elizabeth’s marriage isn’t the only one on the line, Lottie’s is too. At least she thinks it might be. After years of being single and raising Ryan on her own, she is now married to Jack after years of an extra-marital affair with him. But the death of his wife doesn’t give her closure or reassurance. Installed in ‘her’ house, she feels excluded, isolated and adrift. Now that she and Jack no longer have to hide, can their relationship stand the light of day? With its romance stripped does love exist or was it all just lust and atmosphere?

Written with grace and insight, this is a marvelous tale of how adults come to understand their need for love and in which position it should take in their lives. show less

The style is a little too introspective for my tastes, but Miller does provide a thoughtful examination of various aspects of love.

You could say this is just another dysfunctional-family story, but the author, Sue Miller, with her extensive character development and seamless writing makes it seem so much more than that. Our narrarator is Lottie Gardener who is struggling in her second marriage and living in Chicago and jumps at the chance to go "home," Cambridge, MA, and help her brother fix up their mother's home and put it on the market. Going back to Cambridge, of course, brings up the past for Lottie and allows her to resolve some issues but also opens her eyes about her brother and her childhood friend Elizabeth. Very good and satisfying read.

A baggy book—just too long. The core of a good idea is here: comparing and contrasting different kinds of love: romantic and familial; however, it’s all a bit over the top. All of the characters are self-absorbed, and I personally don’t care for quite the amount of detail that Miller evidently likes to supply about her central character’s sexual relationships. An accessible and undemanding book. Ultimately forgettable. On my shelf for many years and now gone . . .

I think ninety percent of the action in this novel takes place in the opening chapter. A tragic event occurs therein, but as the book progresses it becomes clear that this will be nothing more than a side issue, the main business of the novel being the introspection and detailed character analysis that Sue Miller specialises in. She seems to take the angst found in teenage novels and superimpose it on her middle-aged characters. Oh yes we can certainly suffer in our forties.

Character development was of a high standard throughout, and in particular main protagonist Lottie was sufficiently imperfect to make her real (though in my mind’s eye, anyone called Lottie has to be aged three or less). This said, I can see how the whole thing show more would be a tough read if you don’t like or engage with any of the characters. The density of some of the sections was such that it was like going underwater. Best take a deep breath, you’re going to be down there for some time show less

I've been disappointed in a couple of Sue Miller's books now. Maybe I should give up on her. I can really relate to some of her characters - they often times think and feel exactly the way I do, but the last couple of books of hers have seemed to go nowhere. Help!

Lottie and Cameron were raised by an alcoholic mother and blamed their mere existance on her. I thought the mother was betrayed as loving and grew to resent/hate Lottie (so would I have). The mother did abuse Cameron and he turned out with trates of darkness and searching for perfection in love. He dated Elizabeth and she ended up going back to her husband who was a "jerk!"