Mismatches

Romance is the best-selling genre, but I have yet to read a title from it. There is something about the notion of a perfect match that rubs me the wrong way, at least in long form. (By contrast, I’m happy to watch romance unfold in episodic television. Maybe I prefer visual representation?)

There is another kind of story that I better appreciate. I think of it as the misfit love story. While the purpose of romance is to show the slow torture of two soul mates finding each other, the misfit love story shows two people who will never be cheered at a wedding reception, at least not by anyone who knows the full story.

Sigrid Nunez’s The Friend is one such tale. The protagonist is grieving the suicide of a writer and friend. She is not one of his three wives, but a former student who is tasked with taking care of his great dane. While she does, she ruminates on writing and her unresolved feelings for the man. We are not clear on what he thought of her.

Nunez deservedly won the National Book Award for this work. It is full of wisdom about a writer’s life and the nature of being human. Quoting Rilke, her character says this about the creative process: “Do not search for answers but rather love the questions. Do not run away from sadness or depression for those might be the very conditions necessary for your work.” And she calls companionship “two solitudes that border and greet each other.”

In the opposite of a meet cute, therapist Tallie spots a man about to jump from a bridge in Louisville and convinces him not to do it. He then moves in with her. She is still smarting from a divorce and he is finding a reason to live again.

Somehow author Leesa Cross-Smith keeps the tone from getting too mortibund. I was reminded a bit of some of Oprah’s book picks from the ’90s like Elizabeth Berg’s Open House. There is a rom-com twist that will get you thinking about deal breakers. Should Tallie forgive Emmett for the peculiar transgression? Reactions may vary.

Ah, love. Ain’t it grand. As it turns out, not always. That makes for compelling reading.