The Language of Love and Loss by Bart Yates
Readers of Mad Honey will adore this clever, deeply touching, buoyant new novel from an award-winning author. When his difficult mother is diagnosed with ALS, a sharp-witted yet sensitive artist reluctantly returns to his New Hampshire hometown – and all the ghosts he left behind.
As it turns out, you can go home again. But sometimes, you really, really don’t want to . . .
Home, for Noah York, is Oakland, New Hampshire, the sleepy little town where Noah’s mother, Virginia, had a psychotic breakdown and Noah got beaten to a pulp as a teenager. Then there were the good times—and Noah’s not sure which ones are more painful to recall.
Now thirty-seven and eking out a living as an artist in Providence, Rhode Island, Noah looks much the same—and swears just as colorfully—as he did in high school. Virginia has become a wildly successful poet who made him the subject of her most famous poem, “The Lost Soul,” a label Noah will never live down. And J.D., the one who got away—because Noah stupidly drove him away—is in a loving marriage with a successful, attractive man whom Noah despises wholeheartedly.
Is it any surprise that Noah wishes he could ignore his mother’s summons to come visit?
But Virginia has shattering news to deliver, and a request he can’t refuse. Soon, Noah will track down the sister and extended family he never knew existed, try to keep his kleptomaniac cousin out of jail, feud with a belligerent neighbor, confront J.D.’s jealous husband—and face J.D. himself, the ache from Noah’s past that never fades. . . . All the while, contending with his brilliant, unpredictable mother.
Bittersweet, hilarious, and moving, and as unapologetically candid and unforgettable as Noah himself, The Language of Love and Loss is a story about growing older, getting lost—and finding your way back to the only truths that really matter.
Review:
The synopsis of this one made it sound like it was right up my alley. That and I really loved the cover. I settled in, and enjoyed the book for roughly the first three chapters, and then I got stuck. It never went anywhere from there.
The book begins with our main character, Noah, going home to visit his mom. The two have a volatile relationship and he never knows how it’s going to go. His mother spent some time in psychiatric care years ago and it strained their relationship, but she’s doing better now, and while Noah isn’t exactly excited about being back in their small town, he is happy to see his mom – until she tells him that she has ALS and would really like for him to move home so she can spend more time with him before she dies. She also tells him that she would like to track down a daughter who she gave up for adoption when she was younger. She also wants him to tell his ex J.D.
J.D. was kicked out of the house by his parents when they learned he was gay, so he lived with Noah and his mother when they were in high school, so Virginia (Noah’s mom) is like a surrogate mom to J.D.
Noah really messed up his relationship with JD while the two were in college. JD moved on and is now happily married to a lawyer, while Noah has nothing more than random hookups on dating apps. He can’t seem to connect with anyone – mostly because he still wants J.D.
Sounds like an interesting premise, right? Lots of baggage to unpack, decisions to be made – and even better – lots of opportunity for character growth. Sadly, I didn’t get any of that in this book. My biggest problem with it was that I hated Noah. He was immature and selfish. There was zero growth in him, yet everything somehow managed to work in his favor. One of the things that made me really dislike him was the fact that he was adamantly opposed to moving home to be with his mom as she lived out her final years, but was perfectly okay uprooting his life to move to be closer to J.D. Where are your priorities, dude? I don’t have the fondest memories of my hometown either, but if my mother was alone and wanted me to move home to be with her in her final years, I would do it.
My other HUGE problem with the book was it never went anywhere, and there would be these long passages of text where the author would rehash a scene that I had already read about. For example, Noah tracks down his half sister without telling his mother that he is going to meet her. They talk – and we witness everything that goes down. Then, he goes home and confesses to his mom that he found her long-lost daughter and then basically proceeds to tell her everything that went down, and we the reader get to hear it all again. It was like when your drunk friend tells you all about a conversation that they just had with you and the entire time they are telling you about it you’re sitting there thinking, “mmhmm, sweetie, I know. I was there. I already experienced it. Don’t need a reminder.” This happened several times. It definitely could have used some editing.
I also hated the non-ending. It ended on a not so cliffy cliffhanger. When I turned the page, I literally said out loud, “Wait. What? That’s it?”
In the end, this was one that promised a lot and delivered very little.
