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Review: “The Lovers” by Vendela Vida

I don’t know what I expected from this book but I didn’t get it.

Scratch that. I DO know what I expected. But I didn’t get it.

That’s not to say the book isn’t good. It is. It’s just much more serious than I expected.

In “The Lovers”, Yvonne returns to the place of her honeymoon as a widow hoping to immerse herself in happier times. Instead she finds herself plagued by memories and regrets. I opened the cover looking for a character to sympathize, grieve and remember with. Instead I found Yvonne. I spent the entire narrative alternating between pitying her and well, not particularly LIKING her. And yet – she’s much more real than the woman I anticipated. I didn’t encounter a glossy widow traversing a painful but sweet grieving process. No, Yvonne was displayed in all her neurotic, past dwelling, self centered glory.

I loved that she is a history teacher as it elegantly encapsulates her personality. Her thoughts and emotions occupy the past to the exclusion of many present realities – including her daughter’s growth into a self sufficient woman. She is unable to even fully understand herself. On one hand she complains that everyone sees and interacts with her through the filters of “history teacher, widow, mother, etc” without recognizing her depth and complexity. And yet, she never actually displays any complexity. It is only after a trip gone even more awry than my expectations of the book, that she shows any sign of moving beyond her self- imposed walls. In the end is the beginning of redemption and the journey there is satisfyingly bumpy.

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