Love Invents Us

by Amy Bloom

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National Book Award finalist Amy Bloom has written a tale of growing up that is sharp and funny, rueful and uncompromisingly real. A chubby girl with smudged pink harlequin glasses and a habit of stealing Heath Bars from the local five-and-dime, Elizabeth Taube is the only child of parents whose indifference to her is the one sure thing in her life. When her search for love and attention leads her into the arms of her junior-high-school English teacher, things begin to get complicated.

And show more even her friend Mrs. Hill, a nearly blind, elderly black woman, can't protect her when real love--exhilarating, passionate, heartbreaking--enters her life in the gorgeous shape of Huddie Lester.

With her finely honed style and her unflinching sensibility, Bloom shows us how profoundly the forces of love and desire can shape a life.

From the Trade Paperback edition.

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5 reviews
This is another example of a reasonably talented writer who blows it in terms of style and character motivation. Bloom’s novel is about the life of a woman and the men who love her throughout it. And while the story seems to flow effortlessly at many points, at others – especially when describing sex – the language becomes self-conscious and overly flowery, trying a bit too hard to be stylistic.

I would tolerate that if I found the characters a bit more likeable. But I could never get a handle on them. I didn’t believe that they really loved one another, not for so long, not over so many absences. I might have accepted that for the central couple, the high schools sweethearts in an interracial relationship, separated by an show more intolerant father. But I couldn’t believe it for the junior high school teacher who falls for his student and maintains that love for her until she becomes an adult and nurses him through his terminal illness, seemingly motivated by her own asexual love for him.

So that’s where the story fell apart for me. What were these people doing? When were they going to change? By the end, I didn’t particularly care.
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This just wasn't my cup of tea. Though well-written and thoughtful, I found the plot rambling and unconvincing at times.
Pretty raunchy and unsatisfying ending.

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ThingScore 50
Aber ihre Gabe, Figuren plastisch vor Augen zu stellen, atmosphärisch dichte Szenen zu entwerfen und vor allem ihr Witz versöhnen mit vielem. Die heute fünfundvierzigjährige Amy Bloom gilt als eine der späten Hoffnungen der amerikanischen Literatur. Das bestätigt ihr erster Roman allemal, auch wenn er die Hoffnungen noch nicht ganz einlöst.
Uwe Wittstock, literaturkritik.de
Apr 1, 1999
added by Indy133

Lists

Female Protagonist
1,056 works; 56 members
1990s
309 works; 17 members
Books Read in 2003
257 works; 7 members

Author Information

Picture of author.
19+ Works 7,161 Members

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Common Knowledge

Original title
Love Invents Us
Original publication date
1997
People/Characters
Elizabeth Taube
Important places
New York, New York, USA
Epigraph
...there are many ways to be born and They all come forth, in their own grace. Muriel Rukeyser
...the great and incalculable grace of love, wch says, with Auguustine, "I want you to be," without being able to give any particular reason for such supreme and unsurpassable affirmation. Hannah Arendt
Dedication
For Alexander, Caitlin, and Sarah
First words
I wasn't surprised to find myself in th back of Mr. Klein's soter, wearing only my undershirt and panties, surrounded my sable.
Last words
(Click to show. Warning: May contain spoilers.)If this were really the end, if this were only my story, I would tell you everything.

Classifications

Genres
Fiction and Literature, General Fiction
DDC/MDS
813.54Literature & rhetoricAmerican literature in EnglishAmerican fiction in English1900-19991945-1999
LCC
PS3552 .L6378 .L68Language and LiteratureAmerican literatureAmerican literatureIndividual authors1961-
BISAC

Statistics

Members
624
Popularity
46,517
Reviews
5
Rating
½ (3.57)
Languages
Dutch, English, German
Media
Paper, Ebook
ISBNs
14
ASINs
3