Review of More Die of Heartbreak (Paperback)

An man long devoted to intellectual pursuits comes down from his ivory tower in a final bid for love, but finds himself defenseless in the real world, where people do not understand him but are happy to harness his prestige for their own purposes.Benn Crader is a world famous botanist, but he also is a soft-hearted man, as you will know when you encounter the quotation that includes the book's title.Will the great scientist protect his special intellectual gifts, or will he allow the pressures of his new, very materialistic adopted family to destroy him?It's a great premise for a novel, and Bellow covers many, many of its implications and takes the story to a logical yet surprising ending.Bellow's narrator, Crader's admiring nephew, often takes off on tangents to ruminate on current events, the contemporary intellectual scene and various intellectual pursuits.Some of these tangents seem to fit into the story better than others, and once in a while I got frustrated and found myself paging ahead to see when he would stop ruminating and start telling the darn story again.Yet Bellow's intellectual meanderings include many interesting observations about life, and taken as a whole, they help to build a textured world around the story."More Die of Heartbreak" is not a literary classic, but it is worth reading.



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Review of Strange Nervous Laughter (Hardcover)

Although this charming little novel begins with a robbery that brings three of the six protagonists together, the theme is undoubtedly the vagaries of love: "Human nature is the source of all bad romantic comedies." In the unlikely pairings of a group of eccentric characters, the author explores the many faces and detours of romantic love. The city of Durban, South Africa, is immersed in the hottest summer that anyone can remember, the nights as humid and steamy as the ongoing dramas between disenchanted lovers. And what a rogue's gallery McNulty has provided: Beth, cashier in a neighborhood grocery compelled to save every man she falls in love with, thus perpetuating a constantly shattered heart; Pravesh, an undertaker, appearing at first the perfect boyfriend, unsure of himself and hiding a rather kinky fetish.

Aisha is a dreamer who floats through the world without direction; and Mdu has communicated with whales since childhood, half a man waiting to become part of a whole. Then there is Harry, collector of everyone's cast-offs, separated from loving parents by their untimely death. Perhaps the most complicated of all is Meryl, who has armored herself against the emotional pain of failed romance only to meet the perfect man and be blinded to his charms by her fear. In a blend of magical realism and black comedy, these tortured lovers stumble through the painful stages of romance, from euphoria to boredom, from terror to submission, from selfishness to fulfillment. For all its whimsy, there is a strong element of truth in these strange pairings, the urgency of connection to another human being, for approbation and acceptance, for completion.

As unique as the South African city where a steamy summer yields unusual couplings, each character is riddled with flaws and self-doubt, with hubris born of ignorance and frustration born of desperation. One cannot help but be enchanted by the prose of this talented writer, her imagination as fresh and vibrant as the ever-changing landscape of lovers at odds with one another and with fate. The most defiant and stubborn are brought to their knees by love's demands in a flavorful, spicy stew of false starts and leaps of faith. Luan Gaines/2009.



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