Love in the Present Tense

Can a book whose plot includes murder, prostitutes, desperate poverty, sexual harassment, infidelity, drug abuse, ruthless politicians, corrupt policemen, and a near-death experience be described as sweetly sentimental? Well, at least in the case of Love in the Present Tense, the answer is a definite yes.

Barely qualifying as a teenager, but streetwise as they come, Pearl suddenly finds herself pregnant and on the run because she has accidentally shot to death the baby’s father, who just happens to be a police officer. Pearl, whose own mother is a self-destructive addict, is determined that her baby will be given the unconditional love that she herself has never experienced. And that is exactly the kind of love that Leonard, who show more suffers from a degenerative eye disease due to his premature birth, receives from Pearl.

By the time Leonard is five years old he and Pearl are renting a room in a small California beach community and the little mixed-race boy has blossomed into the kind of kid that everyone has to love. At times displaying wisdom well beyond his years, he more often seems to be an almost dangerously trusting and forgiving little boy. The term “sweet natured” could have been invented just for him, in fact.

That is why Mitch, who runs a business from his home next door to the one Pearl is renting, so readily offers to let Leonard stay with him during the day while Pearl is at work. Impressed that Pearl assures herself that he is the kind of man who can be trusted around little boys before she agrees to accept his much-needed help, Mitch expects things to go just fine for him and Leonard. And they do – until Pearl doesn’t come to pick up Leonard one day after work and seems to have disappeared forever. Mitch effectively becomes the father that Leonard never knew but Leonard still very much believes in “forever love,” a theory taught him by his mother, and never loses the feeling that Pearl is still around to protect and love him.

Love in the Present Tense is, at heart, the story of the deeply loving relationship that develops between Mitch and Leonard, two guys who manage to cobble together a little family of their own. That’s the “sweetly sentimental” part of the story. But there is much more to their story than that because neither of them is as perfect as they may sound. Leonard grows into a teenager who, because he believes himself destined to die young, has a dangerously self-destructive outlook on life. Mitch shows his own darker side by for more than a decade relishing an affair with the wife of his major client, a man who has treated him almost like a member of the family, even at one point hoping that his daughter and Mitch would become a couple.

Catherine Ryan Hyde tells her story using three distinctive first person narratives: Pearl, Leonard and Mitch. The audio version of the book is nicely read by three separate voices, each ably contributing to the personality of one of the book’s main characters.

Rated at: 3.5 show less

"Love in the Present Tense" is a meditation on the many guises that love can assume. The story begins with a 13-year old child searching for love in a community that offers her only danger, and sexual predation. It continues with her unconditional love for her own child, his love for the 25-year old neighbor who takes him in and looks after him when his mother disappears and the neighbor's love for his employer's middle-aged wife. All of the characters are humanly flawed, interesting and utterly engaging. Ryan has used a shifting point of view very successfully in this book, allowing the reader to see the same set of circumstances through the eyes of several characters and to watch the characters evolve through time. It's easy to label show more the book "sweet" but that may do it an injustice. There is humor here, and human stupidity, cruelty, indifference. Even so, the story is is endearing, gentle, kind; even inspiring. show less

Love in the Present Tense is a novel about unconditional love—that special, all-embracing, all-forgiving love that goes on forever. Unconditional love is ceaseless, never possessing a past tense. If there were a world of unconditional love, you would never hear the words: “I loved you.”

Pearl, a street-wise 13-year-old girl with a drug addict for a mother, has never known unconditional love. She is wise beyond her years. She knows, above all else, that forever love is what she needs. She thinks she finds it in a policeman with kind eyes. She lets him drive her home late one night, allows him to have sex with her, and then she accidentally kills him with his own gun. She is immediately on the run, but at the same time she show more intuitively knows that she has succeeded in her life’s goal. She is sure she’s conceived a child that same night. She yearns to envelop that new life in a forever-safety-net of unconditional love. If she does this, she is certain the child will love her back in the same way.

Pearl was right. Nine months later, she gives birth to Leonard. She moves to a small city where she hopes no one will find her. Across the street lives Mitch, a 25-year-old entrepreneur running a successful Website development firm out of his home.

Mitch has never given the concept of unconditional love a second thought. He’s too busy running his business and having a dangerous long-term affair with Barb, the wife of his major client. This gorgeous woman is old enough to be his mother, but he can’t help but fall under her spell. Mitch is not the type of man to analyze life. He just goes with it. He’s knows he’s fallen in lust with Barb, and imagines that he probably loves her, too. That’s enough for him. It doesn’t worry him that Barb’s husband loves him like a son. He’s blind to his own wrongdoings.

When Leonard is five and being taken care of by Mitch, Pearl disappears. Leonard’s forever love is gone, but he never wavers in his absolute faith and love for his lost mother. Without his mother around, the small child turns the searing spotlight of his forever love full-bore on Mitch. The man barely understands what’s hit him…that his whole world is about to change forever.

Thus the stage is set for the rest of the novel to unfold. What happens to Pearl? Will Pearl ever return? Will Leonard be able to hold on to his unconditional love for his missing mother? Will Mitch be allowed to continue caring for Leonard? Will Mitch realize the errors of his ways? Will Mitch turn his life toward a more meaningful existence?

Catherine Ryan Hyde is a strong writer. She knows the art of storytelling and is completely at home dealing with the nuances of the human connections. She is deft at charting a fast-paced course through the misadventures and tragedies of everyday existence.

Hyde create believable characters. They are flawed, as we all are. In this book, she shows us that even deeply flawed human beings can be redeemed through understanding, forgiveness, and unconditional love. I thoroughly enjoyed this story. But I am a sucker for a book with an important message, especially one like this one, with a message dear to my heart. show less

This is a really touching, beautiful read that is definitely worth picking up. The story is told from the perspectives of three different characters at different stages in their lives, and it works brilliantly.
The title really does sum up the book, it's all about love, but not in a dodgy romance way, love between family and friends, that closeness and understanding that can only be found in love, and the persistence of that emotion beyond the passing of loved ones.
The book tackles some difficult subjects, and had me in tears a few times as you get so attached to the quirky characters.
I wish it had been longer, more detailed in places, especially with Pearl's story. In one way the simplicity of the story adds to it's charm, in another it show more feels like you miss out on a lot, especially with the jumping between characters and ages.
4 stars. Would definitely recommend to anyone. show less

This book surprised me. Ignore the cover. The cover makes it look like one of those awful books on neglected/abused children, that seem so popular with certain people. This is not one of those books.

It's an easy yet quite touching read. Reasonably well written and flits between time and narrator really effortlessly.

I don't think I'll be rushing out to read Catherine Ryan hyde's other works but I certainly wouldn't pass over them if I encountered them.

While reading this book, I always felt a ray of invisible hope; somewhere, at some time, I hoped to see Pearl. I believed Pearl would be back. but at the end, I learnt that Pearl was always there with Leo
, leading him all through his struggles. This book was filled with love and optimism. I am not the type of person who enjoys rereading books, but I would wholeheartedly reread it.

Beautifully written book about Pearl, a teen-age mother from the ghetto, and her son, Leonard, and the neighbor, Mitchell, who ends up raising him. All the characters were portrayed in a realistic way, and the converstions on love and life were very thought-provoking and wonderful. A quick read recommended for everyone who likes fiction.