Five Books With a New Take on Romance and Relationships
Five Books With a New Take on Romance and Relationships
To be or not to be? We’re rounding up our top five books that cover a new take on romance and relationships, with some of the most complicated and difficult aspects of romance and relationships.
“Unrequited love.” “Right person, wrong time”. Those are some common phrases that are frequently associated with love stories. We’ve got some amazing books on our list today with one thing in common–they focus on relationships that span many years, overcome or succumb to hard times. It will leave you wondering whether happy endings come at a cost or whether a great love story requires a happy ending.
1. An American Marriage by Tayari Jones (308 pages) (Published Feb 6, 2018)
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If I could summarize An American Marriage in one sentence it would be–sometimes we make plans but life has other plans in store.
An American Marriage is a story about Celestial and Roy’s relationship. They are barely a year into their marriage when Roy is falsely accused of a serious crime and is sentenced to prison for 12 years. This book is a journey from when they first met to the difficult prison-ridden years and then the new reality when Roy is released after five years. It was an immersive experience reading about the evolution of their relationship. I particularly enjoyed getting to see all angles of the story through narrations from Celestial and Roy, and occasionally, Andre (Roy’s college friend/Celestial’s childhood friend).
Why Read This
Jones’s writing depicts the raw emotion of each character, their flaws, conflictions…everything. It’s impossible not to empathize with every single one of them which in turn makes it impossible to rationalize picking sides. This story is full of conflict and uncertainty, leaving the reader unsure of what might happen next.
Not only does this book highlight the systemic issues with the American prison system – shedding a light on wrongful incarcerations but it will also have you thinking–how long is long enough before you move on? Are people allowed to change in relationships? What are the consequences of such change?
2. The Light We Lost by Jill Santopolo (328 pages) (Published May 9, 2017)
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This is one of the most beautiful books I have ever read and to be honest, I am incapable of describing its contents coherently because thinking about this story has me going through so many emotions. I vaguely remember staying up until 4:00 am reading it and then waking up at 9:00am to finish it.
In The Light We Lost, Lucy and Gabe are seniors at Columbia University when they meet on a day that changes both their lives forever. They coincidentally meet again a year later and from then on it’s a thirteen year journey of encounters, love, betrayal and desire.
Why Read This
If this is the one time you take advice from a stranger on the internet, then let it be now: read this book and thank me later! This story poses the questions: Do you have to choose between love and your career or can you have both? Turns out that kind of decision isn’t always as easy those cheesy Hallmark movies make it out to be.
3. Normal People by Sally Rooney (273 pages) (Published April 16, 2019)
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“No one can be independent of other people completely, so why not give up the attempt, she thought, go running in the other direction, depend on people for everything, allow them to depend on you, why not.”
This book was all the rage in 2019. Readers either really loved it or just didn’t get it. I love stories that tackle the complexity and fragility of the relationships we have with other people, and that’s why I loved Normal People. Did the lack of punctuation in this book initially throw me off? It sure did. But you get used to it. Normal People tells the story of Marianne and Connell, following the birth and growth of their relationship through high school and college. Rooney perfectly captures the uncertainty and imperfections in relationships. She also highlights the contributing factors that can affect relationships such as timing, emotions, miscommunication, mental health, fear etc.
Why Read This
This book doesn’t start off as a magnificent read, at least not for me. The characters slowly grow on you until mid-way you realize, oh I’m invested. There’s a coming of age story in here, a self-discovery story and most of all, a beautiful, complicated, unsatisfying yet satisfying love story.
4. The Interestings by Meg Wolitzer (468 pages) (Published April 9, 2013)
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“And didn’t it always go like that — body parts not quite lining up the way you wanted them to, all of it a little bit off, as if the world itself were an animated sequence of longing and envy and self-hatred and grandiosity and failure and success, a strange and endless cartoon loop that you couldn’t stop watching, because, despite all you knew by now, it was still so interesting.”
Sometimes life is chaotic and sometimes life is just life!”
Why Read This
Ironically, “The Interestings’’ (as they call themselves) are not all that interesting. What was interesting was Wolitzer’s ability to tell a story about a group of six friends who meet in adolescence and how the dynamics of their friendship changes over the years.
Nothing particularly exciting happens in this book. Wolitzer isn’t telling the story of their lives to lead up to some important event or catastrophe. It’s simply just a reminder that everyone walks different paths in life. Some people grow up to accomplish great things and some don’t. Some people don’t truly find themselves until they’re old and grey. Some people can never be content with what they have and are always longing to be someone else, or somewhere else. Some people choose practicality over dreams.
Mostly, people are just people– making choices, getting by, and living life.
5. In Some Other World, Maybe by Shari Goldhagen (288 pages) (Published February 16, 2016)
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Do you ever think about all the people you’ve ever met? The friends you’ve had. Past romantic relationships. Career decisions. The way people come in and out of our lives. What could have been? What could still be? Well, this book makes you think a lot about all of that.
In Some Other World, Maybe is a really long story made up of lots of tiny stories. We follow Adam, Phoebe, Sharon and Oliver from high school to university, through their twenties and thirties. We see how sometimes their lives are interconnected without them ever even knowing.
This story reminds you of how everything changes but also how some things stay the same. It reminds you of how you can still love people even if they are no longer in your life. It reminds you of human interaction, actions and consequences and most of all, the depth of human connection.
Why Read This
In Some Other World, Maybe is a really long story made up of lots of tiny stories. We follow Adam, Phoebe, Sharon and Oliver from high school to university, through their twenties and thirties. We see how sometimes their lives are interconnected without them ever even knowing.
This story reminds you of how everything changes but also how some things stay the same. It reminds you of how you can still love people even if they are no longer in your life. It reminds you of human interaction, actions and consequences and most of all, the depth of human connection.
If you loved our book recommendations on romance and relationships, let us know here. You can check out more romance recommendations here.
Esosa Akpata is a 20-something-year-old avid reader, occasional writer, and constant dreamer who enjoys travelling, cheesy rom-coms, and brunch dates with friends. She is passionate about improving the lives of people and communities and has worked in the charitable sector for over five years with a focus on healthcare and education. Her love for reading started as a preteen with The Nancy Drew Mysteries and was reignited in her late teenage years thanks to tear-jerking young-adult novels like The Fault in Our Stars by John Green. Today, she enjoys a wide genre of books that include: contemporary fiction, short-essay collections, memoirs, and historical fiction.
Top Three Favourite Books are:
All the Light We Cannot See by Anthony Doerr
All the Bright Places by Jennifer Niven
When They Call You a Terrorist: A Black Lives Matter Memoir by Patrisse Khan-Cullors
Favourite Brunch Spot: Reyna on King
