A Cure for Lonliness

Begun plowing through The History Of Love for various reasons, starting Friday. Besides plowing, I have been racing, scurrying, chomping, tearing and whatever else I can think of through the book- point being, I have being going through the book at a fast pace while still enjoying it and not rushing. And enjoying is an understatement.

I'm into what seems like a second section of the book- a second perspective, being 14 year old Alma Singer. What has begun to be one of the things I love about the book is that I know some details about her, but she spends most of her time focusing on other people. Other people being her mother and brother.

What I do know- though this relates to all the members of her family- is that her dad died when she was seven. The typical dad death subplot prior to the current times of the book. She loved her dad. He was special. And then he died of cancer.

But what sticks out to me is a line that Alma said about her mom. "She never stopped loving my dad" says the smart 14 year old (not in those exact words).

This is sweet, with a lot of meaning behind it. But it also could be one of her mother's main source of problems. She's lonely- she's dated before, but never with a strong feeling. Because she's in love with something she's lost. And she won't get it back. And she knows it.

Yet she allows it to destroy her.

Instead of thinking for the character, this time I'm going to actually wait and see how they work things out on their own. I have the best hopes for Alma- her mother is a broken character that I definitely want to see fixed.