Love May Fail – Matthew Quick
I loved reading The Good Luck of Right Now it was one of my favourite books of 2014 and so I was super-keen to read this one. I even managed to find a copy at the Rottnest General Store.
Here is the blurb …
Portia Kane is having a meltdown. After escaping her ritzy Florida life and her cheating pornographer husband, she finds herself back in South Jersey, a place that remains largely unchanged from the years of her unhappy youth. Lost and alone, looking for the goodness she believes still exists in the world, Portia sets off on a quest to save the one man who always believed in her—and in all of his students: her beloved high school English teacher, Mr. Vernon, who has retired broken and alone after a traumatic classroom incident.
Will a sassy nun, an ex-heroin addict, a metal-head little boy, and her hoarder mother help or hurt Portia’s chances on this quest to resurrect a good man and find renewed hope in the human race? Love May Fail is a story of the great highs and lows of existence: the heartache and daring choices it takes to become the person you know (deep down) you are meant to be.
Mr Quick is one of the only authors I know who writes about mental illness in a funny and generous manner. I didn’t like this one as much as The Good Luck of Right Now, hardly surprising given how much I liked that one. Portia ultimately just seemed whiny. I wanted her to just leave poor Mr Vernon alone. This novel is about being kind and looking after each other, but it didn’t really work for me and I was a bit disappointed.
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