The Reinvention of Love by Helen Humphreys

from goodreads

2.75 stars

Historical fiction is a strange fish. Sometimes history itself is pretty boring yet through fiction you can bring it to life and breathe excitement into it. Other times the history itself is super exciting yet, when you add fiction to it, borarama. This book was kind of a mixture of both scenarios. It was a tough nut to crack.

Synopsis

This is the story of Charles Sainte-beuve's affair with Adele Hugo, wife of Victor Hugo. It discusses the affair as well as the ramifications that happened from it for all involved. The book is set up in decades and changes voices from Charles to Adele and then Adele's daughter Adele, also known as Dede.

My Thoughts

Humphreys did a great job researching the era, using actual letters and notes from all participants and in general creating a very believable story. Yet I found it quite dull. The character Charles kept moaning and going on about his love for Adele and how ugly and fat he was getting. I just wanted to shake him and say, "stop living in the life of your poems and grow a freaking back bone already." I know, I know, it is historical fiction and this very well might have been his true sentiments but, it did not make for interesting reading.

This was supposed to be the love of a lifetime for both Adele and Charles. I found it to be very hollow, I didn't feel a strong emotional connection. Supposedly there was a very strong emotional connection between them but, it did not come across on the page.

When I saw the title I thought that this book was going to be about love. I felt it was more about regrets. Regrets of living in the time they were, regrets of not being able to choose the life you want, and regrets of own personal failings. Yes, they were able to look back on life and know that they had love, but to me, the book was not really about love. Perhaps the point of the book is help us to realize that it is better to be loved for 5 minutes than never to be loved at all. I don't know.

Reading this book has made me question whether I want to read any Victor Hugo. He was kind of a pompous jerk in this book. I felt sorry for his family, who were not able to get from under his control.

So on the whole. The book was meh. Other people in my book club really enjoyed the language and description. I think it is one of those books that either you love it or you meh it.