The Republic of Love

Rating:
Summary: Disappointment
Review: "As a baby, Tom Avery had twenty-seven mothers. So he says. That was almost forty years ago." As opening paragraphs go, if this one doesn't make you want to read on, then nothing will. I started reading this in bed one Sunday morning and didn't get up until it was finished.

Fay McLeod wakes up one morning knowing she no longer loves the man in the bed beside her, with whom she has lived for five years. Truth be known, he no longer loves her, either; their relationship had just slipped into complacency and joint commitments. But alone, she finds she really is just one half of an incomplete couple. Where does one find love? How does one remain in love? After all, as the title suggests, it's everyone's right to experience love.

Fay is close to her family; her parents, brother, his family, and her sister. She has many friends, mainly through her absorbing work as a folklorist with a special interest in mermaids. Her work links her to the past, and to fantasy - could she be using that to escape reality?

Before reaching forty, Tom Avery has been divorced three times. He hadn't chosen partners very wisely, but at least he's remained friendly with two of his ex-wives and they are part of his extensive social circle. Without actually vowing to never marry again, he knows he isn't good marriage material, and spends most Friday nights attending singles meetings, supposedly to learn new skills, but in reality to check out availability of potential partners. He also concentrates his energies on friends, associates and his work as the popular host of a midnight to dawn radio program.

Considering his circle, and Fay's circle contained so many people in common, it was surprising they'd never met. However, a chance encounter at the birthday party of Fay's nephew where he'd come to collect his godson and she'd come to deliver a present on the eve of a European study tour, leads to a strong mutual attraction. So strong, that after only a walk home (they lived across the street from each other) in the company of an eight year old boy, Tom tracks down her address in Europe and professes his love, a madly passionate airletter posted before allowing himself to think better of it.

What is love? In this book, Carole Shields has used none of the artifice apparent in later novels; it's just a beautifully written exploration of love, finding it, keeping it, regaining it and allowing yourself to yield to it. Around Tom and Fay, finely developed secondary characters go though their own love crises - the path of love is hardly ever smooth. It is a hopeful, heart-warming and satisfying novel. Plus you find out quite a lot about Winnepeg, mermaids and late-night radio.

Several years ago, an elderly friend recommended Carol Shields. Recently I started with "Larry's Party", which announced it was by the author of "The Stone Diaries", which in turn proclaimed to be by the author of "The Republic of Love". Since these books seem to be their own best recommendations, I'm now going to take the advice of "The Republic of Love" and look even further back into her list for "Swann" and "The Orange Fish".

Rating:
Summary: Romantics - take heart!
Review: "As a baby, Tom Avery had twenty-seven mothers. So he says. That was almost forty years ago." As opening paragraphs go, if this one doesn't make you want to read on, then nothing will. I started reading this in bed one Sunday morning and didn't get up until it was finished.

Fay McLeod wakes up one morning knowing she no longer loves the man in the bed beside her, with whom she has lived for five years. Truth be known, he no longer loves her, either; their relationship had just slipped into complacency and joint commitments. But alone, she finds she really is just one half of an incomplete couple. Where does one find love? How does one remain in love? After all, as the title suggests, it's everyone's right to experience love.

Fay is close to her family; her parents, brother, his family, and her sister. She has many friends, mainly through her absorbing work as a folklorist with a special interest in mermaids. Her work links her to the past, and to fantasy - could she be using that to escape reality?

Before reaching forty, Tom Avery has been divorced three times. He hadn't chosen partners very wisely, but at least he's remained friendly with two of his ex-wives and they are part of his extensive social circle. Without actually vowing to never marry again, he knows he isn't good marriage material, and spends most Friday nights attending singles meetings, supposedly to learn new skills, but in reality to check out availability of potential partners. He also concentrates his energies on friends, associates and his work as the popular host of a midnight to dawn radio program.

Considering his circle, and Fay's circle contained so many people in common, it was surprising they'd never met. However, a chance encounter at the birthday party of Fay's nephew where he'd come to collect his godson and she'd come to deliver a present on the eve of a European study tour, leads to a strong mutual attraction. So strong, that after only a walk home (they lived across the street from each other) in the company of an eight year old boy, Tom tracks down her address in Europe and professes his love, a madly passionate airletter posted before allowing himself to think better of it.

What is love? In this book, Carole Shields has used none of the artifice apparent in later novels; it's just a beautifully written exploration of love, finding it, keeping it, regaining it and allowing yourself to yield to it. Around Tom and Fay, finely developed secondary characters go though their own love crises - the path of love is hardly ever smooth. It is a hopeful, heart-warming and satisfying novel. Plus you find out quite a lot about Winnepeg, mermaids and late-night radio.

Several years ago, an elderly friend recommended Carol Shields. Recently I started with "Larry's Party", which announced it was by the author of "The Stone Diaries", which in turn proclaimed to be by the author of "The Republic of Love". Since these books seem to be their own best recommendations, I'm now going to take the advice of "The Republic of Love" and look even further back into her list for "Swann" and "The Orange Fish".

Rating:
Summary: 3 dimensional characters easy to empathize with.
Review: A friend told me that this book was disappointing to her in comparison to "The Stone Diaries" - I find this hard to imagine, I loved the story, the characters, the setting, the realness and can hardly wait to read more of Shield's books. The job choices for the characters, mermaid researcher and dj, made a charming combination, not your normal 9 - 5 world!

Rating:
Summary: Disappointment
Review: After "The Stone Diaries" this story is a true disappointment. Slow, miniaturistic, shallow. "The Stone Diaries" on the other hand was one of the best books I ever came across.

Rating:
Summary: A decent read
Review: I wanted to crawl into this book and pull it down on top of me. It is whimisical homage to romantic love and a wonderful illumination of the underpinnings of community. It's one of those novels I read every couple of years, just for kicks.

Rating:
Summary: A Pleasant Book, but no "Stone Diaries"
Review: THE REPUBLIC OF LOVE is a pleasant diversion by the author of the Pulitzer Prize winning "The Stone Diaries." While this book is an enjoyable read, those who are expecting the quality of the latter may be disappointed. While the book contains Carol Shields' graceful and eloquent prose typical of all of her books, the plot is somewhat thin and superficial. The characters are well developed in the first part of the book and the pace is leisurely until the last few chapters. At that point, the plot is wrapped up so quickly it was as if the author decided that she had something better to do and needed to get this book out of the way.

By usual standards, the book is certainly nicely done, however it pales in comparison to Ms. Shields' later works.

Rating:
Summary: A Pleasant Book, but no "Stone Diaries"
Review: THE REPUBLIC OF LOVE is a pleasant diversion by the author of the Pulitzer Prize winning "The Stone Diaries." While this book is an enjoyable read, those who are expecting the quality of the latter may be disappointed. While the book contains Carol Shields' graceful and eloquent prose typical of all of her books, the plot is somewhat thin and superficial. The characters are well developed in the first part of the book and the pace is leisurely until the last few chapters. At that point, the plot is wrapped up so quickly it was as if the author decided that she had something better to do and needed to get this book out of the way.

By usual standards, the book is certainly nicely done, however it pales in comparison to Ms. Shields' later works.