Love Isn't Always The Answer
Love Songs and Lies by Libby Purves
I enjoy Libby Purves's novels and this one was no exception. They're all well-written with compelling stories. They're also very English and I like that.
I liked the heroine in this book most of the time, but most modern women would regard her as a bit of a wimp, probably. She even got on my nerves some of the time! I identified with her age group and feelings, however, although she's a little bit before my time.
Sally, like many other girls, has trouble separating her real life from her fantasy life. She studies English Lit at Oxford and gets lost in the world of Keats and Byron. She then falls into unrequited love with the handsome and cold Max. These days she'd probably just read: "He's Just Not That Into You", but this was the Seventies. Max is a bit of a lost cause, but his younger brother, Marty, is keen. The problem is that he's mixed up with the drugs crowd...
I liked Sally more as I kept reading. She goes through a lot and shows that she has a certain amount of inner strength.
Libby Purves writes a lot of interesting things about unrequited love, drug addiction, and society's changing attitudes to sex and life. This book is worth reading, but it's quite depressing. I certainly didn't agree with this part of the blurb: "Libby Purves's new novel perfectly captures what it means to be a woman in the last third of the twentieth century." It was much too dark for that, I thought.
I enjoy Libby Purves's novels and this one was no exception. They're all well-written with compelling stories. They're also very English and I like that.
I liked the heroine in this book most of the time, but most modern women would regard her as a bit of a wimp, probably. She even got on my nerves some of the time! I identified with her age group and feelings, however, although she's a little bit before my time.
Sally, like many other girls, has trouble separating her real life from her fantasy life. She studies English Lit at Oxford and gets lost in the world of Keats and Byron. She then falls into unrequited love with the handsome and cold Max. These days she'd probably just read: "He's Just Not That Into You", but this was the Seventies. Max is a bit of a lost cause, but his younger brother, Marty, is keen. The problem is that he's mixed up with the drugs crowd...
I liked Sally more as I kept reading. She goes through a lot and shows that she has a certain amount of inner strength.
Libby Purves writes a lot of interesting things about unrequited love, drug addiction, and society's changing attitudes to sex and life. This book is worth reading, but it's quite depressing. I certainly didn't agree with this part of the blurb: "Libby Purves's new novel perfectly captures what it means to be a woman in the last third of the twentieth century." It was much too dark for that, I thought.
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