Love and Other Tragedies

The iris is blooming in my front yard; it is the time of year when our thoughts turn to love. Unfortunately, most happily-ever-after stories, though delightful to read, don't offer a lot to talk about.

While pondering this conundrum, I found a reference to British science fiction writer Robert Shearman's forthcoming book. I don't know what it's about, but its title gave me my topic: "Love Songs for the Shy and Cynical." Now that I can work with!

"The Solitude of Prime Numbers" is a first novel from Italian author Paolo Giordano. A prime number is divisible only by one and by itself. Twin primes are prime numbers separated only by one number, such as 11 and 13. Mathematician Giordano uses this metaphor for the two main characters of his story.

Mattia believes he was responsible for the death of his twin sister at age five. He cuts himself to relieve the pain. Alice was permanently crippled by a horrific skiing accident when she was six. She is anorexic. Despite this, they are bright and creative people and they each find a way to function as adults in the outside world.

Giordano's story is beautifully written and surprisingly hopeful. He doesn't shrink from the reality of his characters: they are damaged people. When they meet as teenagers they feel a connection, but there is still that number separating them. Theirs is a love song in a minor key, but a love song nonetheless.

"The Handbook for Lightning Strike Survivors" is another debut novel. In parallel stories, Michele Young-Stone follows two characters, Becca and Buckley. Becca, in North Carolina, experiences her first lightning strike when she is eight. She is not harmed but is forever changed. Her self-absorbed father and alcoholic mother don't notice. Lightning and Becca continue to connect, but she survives and becomes an artist.

Buckley and his mother, Abigail, suffer for years in a cruelly dysfunctional family. Finally, when Buckley is 13, his mother flees with him to Galveston, Texas, where they finally begin to find happiness. Then Abigail is struck by lightning and dies. Buckley becomes obsessed by lightning and eventually writes the "Handbook for Lightning Strike Survivors."

Of course, the story lines will converge and Becca and Buckley will meet. Will it be happily-ever-after or will lightning strike again?

Famous Midwestern librarian Marcia Nelson drew my attention to Jon McGregor's 2002 Booker Prize nominee, "If Nobody Speaks of Remarkable Things." This novel is set in a quiet residential block of flats in London and takes place over one day. We know from the beginning that something tragic has happened. It is revealed in the end; you might guess it early but that's not really the point.

As Marcia said in her review, "This book is observation; witness; a chronicling of sights, sounds, smells, tastes, touch, and actions that speak volumes about the characters: the boy at No. 18 with the sore eyes, the woman at No. 19 waking in the night, the girl in 22 with the short blonde hair and the little square glasses. The reader enters the story as another observer. The author juxtaposes all this detail, watching and knowing against themes of not seeing, not knowing, not naming."

I would add connecting and not connecting: this is a love song of many voices.

"The Elegance of the Hedgehog" by French author Muriel Barbery has been very popular with book clubs. It tells the stories of Renee, the concierge of an elegant luxury apartment building, and Paloma, a precocious 12-year-old living with her family on the fifth floor.

Renee, self-described as "short, ugly and plump," is an autodidact, a self-educated woman who loves philosophy, art and music. She hides all this behind the expected concierge facade of frumpiness and a blaring television.

Paloma, disgusted with the excesses of her wealthy family and the general futility of life, has decided to commit suicide on her 13th birthday. Until then she secretly records and numbers her Profound Thoughts.

A new tenant changes everything.

Renee and Paloma are both adept at skewering the pretensions of wealth, sometimes with great hilarity. It is easy, though, to underestimate the depth of bitterness underlying Renee's contempt for the people she serves. Class divisions run deep. The true love story here is not the obvious one.

And, finally, I relent with "Major Pettigrew's Last Stand" by Helen Simonson. This is the story of a conventional 68-year-old British gentleman who defies convention and falls in love with a Pakistani shopkeeper. It sounds like it might be sappy, but all reviewers agree, it is not. It is absolutely charming.

I think it may also be happily-ever-after: a love song for all, sung in a major key!