“Like it or not, she made you the man you are. And you never got over her. You just left.”
The man is Erik “Fish” Fiskare, a student of technical theatre at a Philadelphia university. At twenty-two, he is the lover and soul mate of Daisy Bianco, a beautiful and talented ballerina. His best friend is William Kaeger, Daisy’s charismatic, free-spirited partner.
While deeply in love with Daisy and astonished by their physical passion, Erik is fascinated by Will’s bisexuality. But when Will embarks on a disastrous affair with a dancer named James Dow, it pushes Erik’s tolerance and trust to the limit. Rejection soon pushes James over the edge of sanity, taking Will and Daisy with him and leaving Erik in the ruins.
The young stagehand soon discovers that in the face of heartache, grief and betrayal, love is not always enough to make you stay. And sometimes, it’s the only thing that can bring you back.
Spanning fifteen years and following a man's thrilling emotional journey back to the truth of himself, Laqueur's debut novel explores the complexities of sexual passion, the dark side of devotion and the futility of running from one's past. The Man I Love is an epic tale of love and forgiveness that will linger long after the last page is turned.
Review
My rating: 5 of 5 stars
I love this author's writing style. I read wonderful stories all the time, but the actual craft of writing from this author continues to blow me away.
Erik and Daisy meet and fall in love in college. She's a world class ballerina, and he does the technical design. Everything is going wonderful for them. Their romance is perfect. School is great. By all signs, the future is nothing but up, up, up. After a tragedy, it's impossible for them to get back on track. This is the journey of their love and despair and the eventual finding of themselves. It spans many years.
I didn't read anything about this story before starting it. Every emotion hit me hard, and I had to ride it out fully. I want to go into detail about all my feels at each point, but I don't want to spoil anything. Just know that you aren't going to want to put it down, but you may have to a few times to wipe your eyes. It's beyond beautiful. It broke my heart at times and overfilled it others. The Man I Love is not to be missed. Exquisite. Moving. Defining.
No comments:
Post a Comment