What a beautiful story. This was marketed as being the story of a long marriage, but I was expecting elderly protagonists. They were younger than my parents, and so complicated and imperfect. Neither was particularly likeable, though I felt compassion for both. This is a very real and complicated novel about love—and art—but most of all, it is a beautiful love letter to New York City.

Thanks to Netgalley and Penguin Group Dutton for providing me with the DRC.

It's been a couple of days since I finished "This Is A Love Story". It is one of those books that stays with you long after you've read the last page. It is also not a book for everyone, It is very easy to see why some have given it 3 , 2, even 1 star reviews. When I started reading I was going between thinking it would be a DNF, to if I did finish maybe a 2 or 3 star read. I am so glad I persevered and gave it more of a chance. It took a bit to click with the characters as well as Soffer's the writing style.

Initially I was turned off with Soffer's writing style. The book started with a long run-on stream of consciousness chapter about Central Park. After quite a bit of interesting information about the Park, Soffer moved into Abe's voice. We follow along as he is reminiscing with his wife, Jane, about their early days. It becomes clear Jane is ill, and Abe is talking & talking to keep her as present as he can. Throughout the book we hear the voices of Jane, their son Max, and Alice, a student of Abe's. Each section is interspersed with more information about Central Park.

You are invited into the inner most thoughts and memories of each voice, it's intimate, and at times voyeuristic. Soffer excels at portraying an honest look at relationships, be it marriage through the years, parenthood, and young adulthood.

My advice- if you are reading this review and struggling with the book, give it more of a chance, it might end up being one of your favorite reads of the year.

I would have liked this book much more if the narrative style was different. Books told in second voice narrative are not pleasurable for me. But having said that, the story was engaging. Abe and Jane have been married for many years, and Jane is dying. Abe recounts their life in this story, the good, the bad and the ugly. NYC is beautifully represented, and Central Park plays a significant role in the narrative. Recommended for all public libraries.

This Is a Love Story by Jessica Soffer is the highly recommended literary New York City story which covers decades of a marriage and family, while also serving as an ode to Central Park. The chapters are told from the point-of-view of each person and that of the park.

Central Park has been part of the lives and marriage of Abe and Jane for fifty years. The park witnesses their love, struggles, emotions, depression, and frustration. Now Jane, an accomplished artist, is dying from cancer, and Abe, a successful author, is recount their lives and relationship, every little memory, beginning with when they met. Next chapters unfold from the point of view of Alice, a graduate student who falls in love with Abe. The story of Max, the son of Abe and Jane comes next. He resents his mother, avoids relationships and is also well acquainted with the park. The narrative then moves back to Abe and Jane.

The narrative captures the complexity and intimacy of each person's story. There are parts of the novel that are quite touching, insightful, and poignant. There are beautifully written sections, but I can't say that about the whole novel. This Is a Love Story has a whole lot of potential but I struggled with the style of the writing. Then, once I was getting into the cadence of it, the switch in characters happened and I had to attend to a new characters emotions.

I appreciate the story and the intense emotions, but the writing was a turn-off for me. These might have worked better as interconnected short stories with a clear delineation between them. 3.5 rounded up. Thanks to Penguin/Dutton for providing me with an advance reader's copy via NetGalley. My review is voluntary and expresses my honest opinion.

The review will be published on Edelweiss, Barnes & Noble and Amazon.

Quiet, intimate, and impactful This is a Love Story is a poetically written story that showcases all facets of a romantic relationship including the beauty, the boring, the cruel, and the power to endure. Predominantly told in second person, this is the story of Abe and Jane and their 50 year romance. Jane is dying and Abe recounts their life together as a way of keeping them going: the parts they knew—their courtship and early marriage, their blossoming creative lives—and the parts they didn’t always want to know—the determined young student of Abe’s looking for a love story of her own, and their son, Max, who believes his mother chose art over parenthood and who has avoided love and intimacy at all costs.

I strongly dislike anything written in second person, so this book just did not work for me. I tried, because the general idea and theme are appealing to me, but the tone and structure was ultimately too off-putting.

A story that dives into all aspects of what it means to love and be loved. It had the balance to be light but also heartbreaking

lyrical and werll written, mostly pretty great, but unfortunately has some weakness near the middle. 4 stars. tysm for the arc.

This is an emotional story, at times really powerful. I might have preferred to stay longer with one or two of the characters, because the interiority was so strong, but all characters were well drawn.

Yes, this is a love story. However, in addition to the romance implied by it's title, this story shows the side of love that can be brutally honest and heart wrenching. We are told this story of Abe and Jane, their courtship, marriage and eventually her terminal illness, through varying points of view.
The most moving is Abe recounting their lives to Jane as she lay dying, the most unique is making Central Park itself a comforting and observant character.
If I were to choose one word that defined the meaning and importance of this story, it would be 'memory'. Memory; the way Jane remembers, the way Abe reminds her in his gentle monologues at her bedside, and toward the end, him struggling to retain those memories that define a relationship spanning years, for himself. A well written and literary look at love, art and a family of three over the course of 5 decades.
Thank you Penguin Dutton and NetGalley for the chance to be an early reader!

The description and storyline of this book were great but I felt like I kept turning pages waiting for something, anything to happen and grab me into the story. Sorry, this book wasn’t for me.

This book is just hard to read. While I understand what the author is trying to do. It just is very difficult to read. It is told from all the perspectives of one family and the people who played a role in the love story of this family. I appreciate that this love story is raw and emotional, and real. There is no sugar coating the characters in this story. Their stories are real life stories. A mom facing postpartum depression, and cancer. A father who is struggling with his wife’s disconnect and being drawn to another woman. The young woman who finds her professor to be enchanting and alluring. A son who grew up not knowing what his mother’s love was like but realizing that both his parents were important but not really knowing how to connect with people beyond a fleet moment in time. It just is written in a way that is so hard to get through and personally I didn’t enjoy it.
Thank you to Penguin Publishing Dutton and Netgalley for allowing me to read an advance copy of this title.

I requested this ARC because I liked the premise of the story - Abe and Jane growing older together and faced with a terminal illness in addition to all the other things going on in their lives. The reality of the book was that it was written in a style that grates on me - the only thing to tell you who was saying what was the chapter headings indicating whose story we might hear now. Not a single quotation mark, sentences that seemed to ramble on. The reader gathers that each person was successful in their chosen fields, Abe as an author, Jane as an artist. The couple occasionally came together to talk about these things. They had a son, Max, and his mother suffered from severe postpartum depression which, at the time, was not well-recognized nor was it taken as a serious health concern, one which needed to be treated.

I did finish the book, but skimmed a lot of it, thinking it must surely get better along the way. For me, it did not.

This is just not the right book for me. The writing is super repetitive (purposely) and that just annoyed me.

Abe and Jane have been together for 50 years, and now Jane is terminally ill. Abe is retelling their stories and memories through the book, talking to Jane as she is on her deathbed. We also get their story from others' points of view--their son Max, Abe's student Alice, and Central Park itself. Abe and Jane are not perfect, but the story illustrates the beautiful love story between them, blemishes and all. Another important theme of the book is the importance of art and creativity in life. This book is an example of beautiful literary art, written like an ethereal stream of consciousness. It was difficult to get into for a while, but once I wrapped my head around it, I thought the writing style was perfect for this story of two artists. The language is beautiful. The words so carefully chosen to perfectly capture the moments and the emotions, creating visuals in my mind I won't soon forget.

Not everyone will like this book. This style of writing is not for everyone. But if you are a lover of the art of language in literature, I highly recommend reading this book. Be patient with it and it will take hold of you and not let go. It would be a great novel for book clubs. Some will love it, some will hate it, and the discussion will be fulfilling.

Thank you to NetGalley and Dutton for providing the arc of this book in exchange for my honest opinion.

This reads like a long poem. No quotation marks and it didn’t seem like there was much driving the plot forward to make me want to keep reading. DNF at 55% but I wanted to quit around 25%.

I'm sure there are other people who would enjoy this, but I am not one of them.

I told a friend this book is like poetry in prose form--reminiscent of Maggie Smith's exceptional memoir, You Could Make This Place Beautiful. If you're a book underliner like me, get that pencil ready. A beautiful ode to love.

This book is beautiful. Jane and Abe have been together for many years, living near and "in" Central Park with each other, friends, family, themselves. Near the end of Jane's life, she and Abe remember scenes from their life together.

Central Park is an important character as well. It houses people, it comforts people, it serves as a neutral, safe space.

I think the sentence structure is what moved me so much. The sentences were almost devoid of feeling, just statements of memories, if that makes sense.

Thank you to Penguin for this advanced copy in exchange for an honest review.

This story of Abe and Jane and their long time love with each other and a Central Park had such potential. I just couldn’t connect with it. The snippets of remembrance became irritating. It reminded me of Facebook posts when people post small sections of a story without giving context or the juicy bits. I needed more. This would have made a great short story collection with Central Park being the main character throughout.
The writing is clever and the author plainly has a lot of talent for the written word.
I’m sorry to say that I did not finish this. I didn’t even flick to the end. Ultimately, the love story didn’t grab me.
Thanks to Netgalley for the ARC.

I did not finish the book. I found the narrative voice “I remember”. You remember” “I remember” irritating and I was unable to experience the story or the characters. Also, because the heart of the story being about a woman dying of cancer, for me there needs to be some points of light along the way. I could not find that here.