In the break room there is a bin full of free stuff. Mostly books. I paw through it from time to time in case something good has been stuffed in there. I’m not even sure where some of these books come from, but one day I saw one that had a letter stuck with it. I suppose we booksellers are who editors want to reach so we’ll help push the book. Makes sense. The letter was stuck in Julie Buxbaum’s The Opposite of Love, beseeching the reader to crack open the book and dive right in.

…Okay.

Emily Haxby is a lawyer. Maybe not a swank, quarter million dollars a year lawyer, but she’s working on it. Right off the bat, she breaks up with Andrew, the best guy she’s ever been with – and everyone knows it. But she’s convinced herself that it’s better this way; Andrew was just going to leave her sometime down the road. That argument seems to be growing weaker as longing for Andrew grows, and events in her life start to crumble. Grandpa Jack is getting Alzheimer’s. Her boss is a total creep. She’s been stuck with a case that involves a nasty company that’s giving people cancer. Emily and her father has major issues properly communicating. If she wants to put all the pieces of her life back together, Emily will have to face her fears, understand her troubles, and accept aspects of herself she’s ignored for years. It’s a tough road – can Emily handle it?

I think we all know the answer, but let’s forget about that for a moment.

Emily is a very messed up person whose problems are pretty obvious to the outside reader. The death of Emily’s mother years and years ago play a huge role in who Emily has grown up to be and how she handles her life and relationships. Depending you’re your personality, half the time you would like nothing more than to slap Emily in the face and explain what her major malfunction is right to her face. This in itself can be a good thing, because while thoroughly annoyed, Julie Buxbaum has written in enough thoughts and emotions of Emily to get under your skin and react to what the character does.

Likewise, other characters have their own very distinct personalities. Grandpa Jack is loving, fun, fun-loving, and in general, the kind of Grandpa everyone wishes they had (if they didn’t). Emily’s boss Carl is a total creep. In fact, the word “creep” doesn’t even do a proper job of explaining how much of a disgusting, sexist, freakish, ass he is. Every woman who reads this book will want to kick him, just once, really hard, in the crotch. Guys will likely want to punch him in the face (if they are at all chivalrous). Emily’s friends are supportive and open to her, and you get to see how Emily’s father eventually opens up like the unfolding of a bit of origami.

Yes, Julie Buxbaum does a great job of writing, and she does it in the first person, present tense as well, which is rather hard to do. Sometimes it did throw me off a little, but the rest of the time I never had a problem reading it. Some people do have difficulty reading in that tense, so keep that in mind if you’re one of them. In which case, high five to her for accomplishing a tricky style for her first book. You’ll encounter some giggle-worthy parts, some “awww” inspiring parts, places that will make you want to cry, and pieces that will annoy you greatly. Cheers.

Problems? A few. This is the kind of writing that would have gotten me into any creative writing masters program the first round (I do genre fiction, a mistake to send when looking to return to school). How many books are out there about downtrodden women or women with issues somewhat similar to Emily’s: I seek to know/understand/find myself. The only difference is that Buxbaum has done it differently (which is the only thing you can do when so many stories deal with women like Emily). And when you find out just how Emily was able to see her issues, what was holding her back, etc. you may think “Gee, why didn’t she do that three months ago, if not earlier?”

Personally, while it is an interesting story and a change of pace for myself, it’s not my bag of chips. Truth is, I started reading more and more at one time not because it was a powerful page-turner, but because I wanted to be done in order to read other things that I felt demanded more attention. I don’t want to undercut Buxbaum because I know there will be a sizable audience out there for her that happens to be into this type of reading. But I’ve been there, done that, with the whole “woman has issues” thing. I also have to mention the end, as it was rather abrupt. You get a prologue at the beginning, and as you read you tend to forget the details of it, and by the time you reach the end you may have forgotten it entirely. Later on (as in my case) you’ll remember it and think, “Wait, I get how that ties in, but it’s kind of random considering the way the book ended.” Not a big problem, but I still felt it was a little weird.

So read, enjoy, if it sounds like something you’d be interested in. I’ll be putting this back into the free bin at work so someone else can read it and tell the editor what he/she thinks. Find out for yourself if you agree with Emily’s definition of the opposite of love.

NT

Recommended: Yes