Heart the Lover, by Lily King; Rebecca Lowman,
Heart the lover is a story about growing up, dealing with the disappointments in life and appreciating the contentment, embracing the joy that comes with succeeding, and dealing with the trauma that inevitably reaches everyone at some point. Throughout the book the author uses assorted nicknames (even the title is a nickname), perhaps to make the reader bask in the character’s warmth for each other, or perhaps simply to understand the warmth the characters feel for each other. Perhaps the author simply wants to create interest and to illustrate that all things in life have more than one meaning and more than one outcome. We always have a choice, no matter what we face in life. Our lives are the ultimate end result of the decisions we make.
Sam, Yash and Jordan become fast, close friends at university, in their senior year. There is a major complication, however, because the only female in the group, has a love affair with both of them. Yash and Sam are best friends so this complicates matters and both relationships end in semi-disasters. When they leave school, their relationship with one another has changed, and each goes on their separate way. The reader watches as their choices ultimately determine the rest of their lives. Jordan drifts apart pretty much completely for two decades, but then Yash reemerges for one night on his way to someplace else. He and Sam have remained thick as thieves over the intervening years as their careers and relationships with others continued to develop. Following this reunion, the tender story moves further into the future and illustrates the ups and downs of their lives, of their friendships, and of the demands that each must deal with as their lives grew more complicated and independent.
In many ways, they are all influenced by the pressure of family and relationships. The book highlights the value of those close relationships, as well as the tensions that we all must face, with or without the support of others. There are many unexpected events that turn each character in one direction or another, some are joyful and some traumatic, some they can control and some are out of their hands completely. The book explores how they deal with them and how they mature.
The three young students come of age differently, but they do it with all the happiness and sadness life encompasses. As they embrace the life they choose, they never lose sight of the friendships that meant so much to them at so pivotal a point in their lives. So the book is love and hate, disappointment and fulfillment, sadness and elation, passion and frailty, tragedy and blessings, trauma and resilience, love and indifference, kindness and cruelty, self-interest and fairness, shortcomings and strengths, in short, about the human condition. I enjoyed the book immensely, even though it took my emotions to places high and low. At times, I was a bit put off as the author could not help inserting her politics into this tender story, but it was in a subtle way with offhand references. I definitely recommend reading the author’s book, Writers and Lovers that is written before this one, if possible, since the big reveal at the end will fall on deaf ears if you have no prior knowledge of the person named in the final sentence. It was a bit jarring for me until I looked up further information on the author.