Book Review: The Secret Lives of Peole in Love

The Secret Lives of People in Love by Simon Van Booy


Source: 2008 TBR List
Rating: 5 0f 5 STARS

This is a collection of short stories that read like poetry. Van Booy truly has a gift with words. I can't imagine this writing style working with a novel but in short stories it's absolutely beautiful. There's lovely stories of husbands and wives, parents and children. Here are a few excerpts:

"After tying his shoes, he reached into the closet for his raincoat. Instead of yanking it from the hanger, he tugged slightly at the arm and felt his hand begin to wander. It brushed against different fabrics and then stopped at her favorite coat, a long camel-hair one with a thick belt. His fingers crawled into the pocket and swam around between coins, slips of paper, and mints. The secrets of a hand."


"Sabone's hand glided across the paper, making the tiniest lines. Soon, they began to resemble a person, and with only a few strokes more the image began to tremble before him, as though he had tricked some part of her soul into inhabiting the picture."


"Gerard remembers the freezing cross-country races at his English prep school. Bare white legs spotted with mud. Plum-sized hearts thumping."


Van Booy's stories are set in Paris, New York, Kentucky, Greece, and Rome. It would be well worth your time to take a trip to these places with him. Highly recommend.