June 15th, 2009
Book Review The Opposite of Love
As I’ve mentioned before, I’m doing occasional book reviews for Penguin Canada – no compensation received other than the book itself (no affiliate sales or anything either), honest opinions only. I’m going to tell a little about each book and provide a rating (my opinion only obviously) out of 5 stars.The Opposite of Love by Julie Buxbaum
I really enjoyed this lovely book by Julie Buxbaum. As I wrote in a previous post I had fully intended to save it for a nice read on the airplane on my trip to Disneyland, but it called to me one too many times and I ended up finishing it before we left! I ended up having to watch soap operas (shhh, they are a guilty pleasure of mine anyway!) on the way to Disneyland and I bought a nice book at Target to read on the way home. And since Baby Boy kindly fell asleep in BFF’s lap on the way home, I actually had time to read that book too!
The Opposite of Love is the story of Emily Haxby:
When successful twenty-nine year old Manhattan attorney Emily Haxby ends her happy relationship just as her boyfriend is on the verge of proposing, she can’t explain to even her closest friends why she did it. Somewhere beneath her sense of fun, her bravado and her independent exterior, Emily knows that her breakup with Andrew has less to do with him and more to do with…her. “You’re your own worst enemy,” her best friend Jess tells her. “It’s like you get pleasure out of breaking your own heart.”
I loved Emily. She was so real and conflicted and struggling in the way that so many women struggle. I loved her relationships with all the men in her life – her grandfather, her father, her boyfriend. She loved them all and yet tended to push them away, with the exception of her grandfather. She was clearly so afraid of being left or let down that she needed some real help to really let them in and have healthy, growing relationships.
I also really enjoyed reading about Emily’s crises of conscience about her work. Being involved in the legal industry, and having much experience in the firm environment, I could understand how she could have taken such a job at first and yet become disillusioned over time. I’m glad she realized how many opportunities there are though for meaningful work within the law, rather than simply quitting altogether!
I definitely am going to have to check out Julie Buxbaum’s other book, After You, and see if I like it as much! It sounds sound but interesting.
My star rating for The Opposite of Love is a solid 4 – a real pleasure of a book to read and it really would have been perfect on the airplane, if only I could have waited that long, lol! Oh and while I can’t seem to find a release date yet, apparently the book is being made into a movie starring Anne Hathaway – I think it would make a very nice movie and look forward to seeing it whenever it does come out!
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Thanks so much for the lovely review! So glad to hear that you enjoyed The Opposite of Love!
All the best,
Julie
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