SOCIAL MEDIA

Review: The Opposite of Love


Have you ever read a book twice? By accident? I recently read The Opposite of Love for a second time. As I read I kept thinking to myself… this sounds so familiar! Julie Buxbaum’s novel is getting 4 ½ out of 5 stars (with 20 reviews on BN.COM), at least I read a good book twice.

After graduation, I moved to New York to work as a litigator at a large law firm, where I spent two long winters, and many, many hours working in the MetLife building. When I realized I had not seen sunlight in almost seven hundred and thirty days, I asked to be transferred to their Los Angeles office, which upon seeing my pale and desperate face, they kindly obliged. I eventually moved to a much smaller firm, but shortly thereafter realized that maybe I wasn’t cut out for the whole lawyer thing. As part of a New Year’s resolution, I quit my job, downsized my life, and went to work immediately on The Opposite of Love. (source: author website)

This is the story of Emily, a twenty nine year old woman with a law degree and a great boyfriend. One night, after she feels life is treating her too good she breaks up with her boyfriend and the story leaps into action from this moment forward. We follow her struggles with her creepy boss while on a business trip, deal with ethical issues at work, an ailing grandfather, unresponsive father and more. The book is filled with moment’s right out of Bridget Jones’ diary (awkwardly funny at times, yet compassionate). I would pass this book along to a friend to read.

Type: Fiction, 320 pages, Trade paperback

Synopsis
With perfect pitch for the humor and heartbreak of everyday life, Julie Buxbaum has fashioned a heroine who will be instantly recognizable to anyone who has loved and lost and loved again.

When successful twenty-nine-year-old Manhattan attorney Emily Haxby ends her happy relationship just as her boyfriend is on the verge of proposing, she can’t explain to even her closest friends why she did it. Somewhere beneath her sense of fun, her bravado, and her independent exterior, Emily knows that her breakup with Andrew has less to do with him and more to do with...her. “You’re your own worst enemy,” her best friend Jess tells her. “It’s like you get pleasure out of breaking your own heart.”

As the holiday season looms and Emily contemplates whether she made a huge mistake, the rest of her world begins to unravel: she is assigned to a multimillion-dollar lawsuit where she must defend the very values she detests by a boss who can’t keep his hands to himself; her Grandpa Jack, a charming, feisty octogenarian and the person she cares most about in the world, is losing it, while her emotionally distant father has left her to cope with this alone; and underneath it all, fading memories of her deceased mother continue to remind her that love doesn’t last forever.How this brave, original young heroine finally decides to take control of her life and face the fears that have long haunted her is the great achievement of Julie Buxbaum’s marvelous first novel. Written with the authority, grace, and wisdom of an author far beyond her years, The Opposite of Love heralds the debut of a remarkable talent incontemporary fiction.

Reviews:

“You’ll want to keep reading all night” – Library Journal

“Gripping, wise and extremely refreshing. I loved it” - Marian Keyes