The author of The BOOK of LOVE, Kelly Link, is a Pulitzer Prize nominated short story writer. In her debut novel, she spun a multi-genre novel into a cornucopia of characters and plots. The book begins bewitchingly then morphs into a bewildering mess and far less transfixing. The pastiche of genres and themes include young adult fiction, fantasy, romance, magic, coming-of-age, family dysfunction, racism and racial stereotyping, good versus evil and plenty of sex. Not to say a mixed concoction can't be intoxicating, but, here too many ingredients did spoil the brew. The genesis of the plot has a lot to convince you to imbibe this elixir of intrigue. Three teens somehow arrive in their high school at midnight with a dawning dread. There's a unifying realization they somehow were dead. But, somehow are back from the dead to talk about it. Their unease and puzzlement as to what happened and their sense of second chances offers up a lot of an enticing spell. Mo, Daniel and Laura are the teens from a small, coastal town called Lovesend. The convoluted plot entails the three who knew each other as classmates, neighbors and band mates. It continues to revolve around a myriad of tasks they must complete to compete for the prize of remaining alive. All three are learning to tame magic powers they've obtained while releasing their liscivious libidos. Cursed mortals that had been granted immortality are complicating matters and creating terrifying problems for the teens. Meanwhile, Laura and her sister Susanna are constantly at each other's throats. Daniel and Susanna spend as much time as possible having sex. Mo finds his lover who unfortunately is hexed and not as he appears. There's more drama on the home fronts; the sisters' father return after a long abandonment. Mo mourns the death of his grandmother who died while he was dead. And, Daniel's younger half-siblings offer chaos and charm. Link tries to utilize her short story writing skills to combine all the different characters and twists but there's too much to contain and feel sane. I wished for a change of pace in my reading but this was too dizzy to decipher and too far-fetched to sustain. Link failed to pull a rabbit out of her hat. Don't read that! Read in lieu of The BOOK of LOVE, GET IN TROUBLE instead.
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