True Love -

Sarah Gerard

Harper

2020

224 páginas

7h 28m

ISBN-13: 9780062937438

Nina is many things: a writer, a romantic, and a loyal friend to an incestuous crew of Florida locals all floundering through the complex politics of modern life. She’s also an addict, a cheater, and a liar. She’s looking for love. She deserves it.

From the burned-out suburbs of Florida to the anonymous squalor of New York City, Nina seeks romantic possibilities and pursues any man she thinks might be able to fulfill her and provide her with the self-worth she is unaware she so desperately lacks. Among them are Mission and his pet rat, both of whom are looking for a place to call home (maybe Nina can help?); Seth, an artist whose latest show is comprised of three Tupperware containers full of trash; and Aaron, who doesn’t believe in a closed-door bathroom policy. There are also those Nina turns to for help: Juniper, the white, dreadlocked hypnotherapist; Odessa, her oldest friend and master of the back-handed compliment; and the unnamed analyst who has perfected the art of total silence in their sessions―except to arrange payment at their end.

Nina’s quest for romantic and sexual fulfillment is at once darkly comedic, acerbically acute and painfully human. Whether pursuing abusive relationships, dissociating during sex, or self-abusing in myriad ways, Nina’s quest is at once a scathing critique of contemporary society and a tender examination of our anguished yearning for connection in a world in which we are fundamentally, existentially alone.