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The Remedy for Love: A Novel
by Bill Roorbach
Hardcover : 320 pages
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FINALIST FOR THE 2014 KIRKUS PRIZE FOR FICTION
“A flat-out funny, sexy, and poignant romantic thriller.”*
They’re calling for the “Storm of the Century,” and in western Maine, that means something. So Eric closes his law office early and heads to the grocery store. But when an ...
Introduction
FINALIST FOR THE 2014 KIRKUS PRIZE FOR FICTION
“A flat-out funny, sexy, and poignant romantic thriller.”*
They’re calling for the “Storm of the Century,” and in western Maine, that means something. So Eric closes his law office early and heads to the grocery store. But when an unkempt and seemingly unstable young woman in line comes up short on cash, a kind of old-school charity takes hold of his heart—twenty bucks and a ride home; that’s the least he can do.
Trouble is, Danielle doesn’t really have a home. She’s squatting in a cabin deep in the woods: no electricity, no plumbing, no heat. Eric, with troubles—and secrets—of his own, tries to walk away but finds he can’t. She’ll need food, water, and firewood, and that’s just to get her through the storm: there’s a whole long winter ahead.
Resigned to help, fending off her violent mistrust of him, he gets her set up, departs with relief, and climbs back to the road, but—winds howling, snow mounting—he finds his car missing, phone inside. In desperation, he returns to the cabin. Danielle’s terrified, then merely enraged. And as the storm intensifies, these two lost souls are forced to ride it out together.
Intensely moving, frequently funny, The Remedy for Love is a harrowing story about the truths we reveal when there is no time or space for artifice.
“One of the best novels of this or any year.” —*David Abrams, author of Fobbit
Editorial Review
An Amazon Best Book of the Month, October 2014: Roorbachâ??s previous book, Life Among Giants, was an Amazon Best of the Month â??spotlightâ?? pick and one of my favorites of 2012. In The Remedy for Love, he again creates believably damaged, oddball characters: a buttoned-up, cuckolded small-town stud (Eric), and a bruised, half-starved mystery girl (Danielle). Eric is a lawyer. He does pro bono work. Heâ??s separated from his wife. Danielle isâ?¦ well, weâ??re not sure who she is. She looks homeless, but we soon catch glimpses of her â??retractable beauty, like a catâ??s claws.â?? Eric feels responsible for her somehowâ??â??a moral tug.â?? So after buying her groceries, and carrying them to her cabin in the woods, Eric returns to the cabin as a snowstorm begins to shut the roads and blanket the town white. In no time, the two are locked inside as the snow piles higher. Cynical readers may need to make a leap of faith here. (I found myself once asking, â??Really?â??) Even Danielle seems freaked out by Ericâ??s irrational helpfulness. â??Get the f**k out!â?? she screams at him. â??Youâ??re so nicey-nice, you f**king creeper.â?? The story then finds its theatrical groove, with crackling, smart dialogue that made me think Taylor-Burton in Whoâ??s Afraid of Virginia Wolfe? (â??I like when you call me Eric.â?? â??Then Iâ??ll stop.â??) Within the chilled and claustrophobic confines of the cabin, as Danielleâ??s mysteries unfold and the storm outside rages, you think you know where things are headed, but how Roorbach gets us there is unexpected, sexy, and intense. Edgy and quite moving, the story stuck with me for many days. â??Neal Thompson
Excerpt
The young woman ahead of him in line at the Hannaford Superstore was unusually fragrant, smelled like wood smoke and dirty clothes and cough drops or maybe Ben Gay, eucalyptus anyway. She was all but mummified in an enormous coat leaking feathers, some kind of army-issue garment from another era, huge hood pulled over her head. Homeless, obviously, or as homeless as people were in this frosty part of the world—maybe living in an aunt’s garage or on her old roommate’s couch, common around Woodchuck (actually Woodchurch, though the nickname was used more often), population six thousand, more when the college was in session, just your average Maine town, rural and self-sufficient. ...
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Discussion Questions
1. This is a potentially claustrophobic story of two people stuck in a cabin together under mountains of snow. In what ways does the story get around that problem and take us away from the cabin to introduce other characters and situations and places? Can the storm itself be thought of as a character? The cabin? The river? The town? Any others?2. A plot can sometimes be thought of as a cascade of events or decisions. Can you trace the elements of that cascade here? Which moments could be considered points of no return?
3. Eric and Danielle seem ill-suited for one another on the surface, yet as events peel away their defenses and their social strategies, an essential compatibility is revealed. Or is it? Do you think there's a chance they could continue on past this adventure as a successful couple? Why or why not?
4. Eric and Danielle: Who is saving whom in this story?
Weblinks
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Largehearted Boy Playlist for the book
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Book Club Recommendations
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