A sweet and touching modern love story, told through dictionary entries
basis, n.
There has to be a moment at the beginning when you wonder whether you’re in love with the person or in love with the feeling of love itself.
If the moment doesn’t pass, that’s it—you’re done. And if the moment does pass, it never goes that far. It stands in the distance, ready for whenever you want it back. Sometimes it’s even there when you thought you were searching for something else, like an escape route, or your lover’s face.
How does one talk about love? Do we even have the right words to describe something that can be both utterly mundane and completely transcendent, pulling us out of our everyday lives and making us feel a part of something greater than ourselves? Taking a unique approach to this problem, the nameless narrator of David Levithan’s The Lover’s Dictionary has constructed the story of his relationship as a dictionary. Through these short entries, he provides an intimate window into the great events and quotidian trifles of being within a couple, giving us an indelible and deeply moving portrait of love in our time.
In January of 2009, Hoffman partnered with Jetpack Media to launch OldJewsTellingJokes.com – a website devoted to video portraits of Old Jews Telling Jokes. Since then, the videos have been viewed over 7 million times and have been released on DVD by First Run Features. The site, covered in countless blogs, has been featured in New York Magazine, the Huffington Post and the Wall Street Journal.
Hoffman graduated with Honors from the University of Pennsylvania. He lives in New York City with his wife Andrea Crane, a modern art specialist with the Gagosian Gallery, their son Jack and daughter Juliet.
Eric Spiegelman produces original Internet content for Jetpack Media, a production company founded by GreeneStreet Films in 2008. Before that, he was a lawyer.
Eric graduated from the University of California, Hastings College of the Law and from Boston University. He lives in the Silver Lake neighborhood of Los Angeles.
Industry Reviews
'A tender meditation on identity and romantic love that evolves with surprising grace.' * Washington Post *
`The Lover's Dictionary burrows into intimate corners of a relationship between two anonymous lovers. It's a romantic parable for word nerds...Levithan's prose is pared back, and his observations, drawn from life, provide a powerful sense of recognition...This charming and wise excursion into love's conundrums is a perfect read for Valentine's Day.' * Age *
`What remains consistent in The Lover's Dictionary is Levithan's devotion to brevity as the key to the book's elegance...both inventive and true to life.' * Sydney Morning Herald *
`Joy and laughter sit alongside fights and disenchantment...In its succinct brevity, its almost like a series of beautifully observed prose poems. Touching, funny and very clever.' * Herald Sun *
`The choice of words is inspired, covering the ebb and flow and sometimes the pain and confusion of new love.' * Sunday Telegraph *
'Can a novel built around dictionary definitions be sexy and romantic? Yes, it can. Sparely and beautifully written.' * Sunday Age *
`[A] delightfully clever book.' Book of the week. * NZ Woman's Weekly *
