I wanted to like this more, even expected to like it more. While it falls outside my usual taste (it's primarily a romance), the reviews had been outstanding. This book follows two seemingly unrelated storylines (although you know that they will come together in the end). The crux of the two stories relates to two men's complete and utter commitment to their significant others. In one story, a young man loses his girlfriend in a horrific bus crash in South America and Scheinmann explores the extreme grief that he feels. In another story, set in and around World War One, a soldier hikes from Siberia to Poland to find his "beloved". I actually preferred the second story as it was more hopeful, while the other was a descent into darkness. As mentioned, these two stories do come together; in my opinion, rather predictably.
This review sounds quite critical, but I should point out that Scheinmann is a beautiful writer, and his use of language does pull you into these two men's stories. It just wasn't my kind of story (glad it was a library book and not a purchase). Interestingly, peppered throughout the text were various quotes about love (often related to love in the animal kingdom) and it is these that I found most interesting. If you like romance, pick it up, otherwise...
3/5 Stars.
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