The Book of Love

Starred review from April 20, 2015
Improv is usually associated with comedy, and while Rosenblatt (The Boy Detectives) imbues this work with plenty of humor, his stream-of-consciousness musings on all the facets of the things people love, from lovers and family to work and art, are more metaphysical than comedic. As in his other works, the main topic is just a starting point for a literary adventure; he combines genres, including memoir, essay, prose-poem, and literary/cultural analysis, the way an artist mixes paints or a musician combines notes. The result is dynamic writing that changes from sentence to sentence and thought to thought as Rosenblatt touches on personal memories, sports, movies, literature, the classics, and random observations of daily life. More amazing than his ability to connect all these distinct and disparate ideas into a cohesive narrative is his capacity for tying them all into the notion of love, both a universal emotion and a very personal feeling. By opening up his own heart and mind, Rosenblatt creates a work so diverse and comprehensive that it feels more like a shared dream than merely an intricately written reflection of one man's life and loves.

December 15, 2014
This short, small book on a big, big topic could probably be read in one sitting, but it's too clever, and it dashes here and there, and for many such reasons, it's a book to savor. Moreover, it can be opened and read at nearly any point. For Rosenblattwittily, urbanely, wholeheartedlyis in love. With you. You means many things in this book, most assuredly his wife, and sweet and tender as his loving streams of consciousness are, she comes first and always and, boy-oh-boy, forever. But it could be you, and it is also trees, light, music, the world, and although the words and construction are definitely his own, he also brings in some of the thoughts about love he has heard. Many of themsong lyrics, poetry, and suchroll past and weave through as he muses ( It had to be you, you and the night and the music ). In the same format, he riffs on the harder parts of love as wellforgiveness, betrayal, power, loss. The Book of Love is a sweet read, but it would also make a wonderful gift for . . . guess who?(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2014, American Library Association.)