On Love: A Novel - Softcover

A tour-de-force pleasure of a first novel that takes a conventional love story and textures it with philosophical ruminations, ironic subtitles, and various sorts of playfulness, including pencil drawings. The narrator, on a flight from Paris to London, meets Chloe in the first chapter, ``Romantic Fatalism'': ``The longing for a destiny is nowhere stronger than in our romantic life.'' In each ironically titled chapter to follow (``Marxism,'' ``Beauty,'' Skepticism and Faith,'' etc.), the paragraphs are numbered, as de Botton develops his disquisition upon love and its limitations. Apothegms abound: ``If the fall into love happens so rapidly, it is perhaps because the wish to love has preceded the beloved....'' The narrator falls for Chloe, but even at the beginning, dishonesty enters the picture: ``What sides of myself should I release?'' The narrator, in fact, is a prevaricator, leaving the relationship to speculate upon various matters: ``Few things can be as antithetical to sex as thought.'' Soon enough, disillusionment sets in: Chloe, trying to read Cosmo, tells the narrator to turn down the ``yodeling.'' It's Bach. ``Understanding Chloe, I was like a doctor, passing hands over a body, trying to intuit the interior.'' Understandably, Chloe tires of such a creep, and the two practice ``romantic terrorism.'' (``Is there anything wrong?'' ``No, why, should there be?'') Chloe, unfaithful, leaves him to contemplate suicide--and ``The Jesus Complex''--before he finds Rachel and the whole thing starts again.... A dissertation/novel on romantic narcissism that's both intellectually stimulating and emotionally touching. A very promising debut. (First printing of 25,000) -- Copyright ©1993, Kirkus Associates, LP. All rights reserved.

Smart and ironic . . . The book’s success has much to do with its beautifully modeled sentences, its wry humor, and its unwavering deadpan respect for the reader's intelligence . . . full of keen observation and flashes of genuine lyricism, acuity and depth.” Francine Prose, New Republic

Imagine, of all impossible things, a young British Woody Allen with the benefit of a classical education and you have the nameless and exquisitely erudite narrator of On Love, a first novel by Alain de Botton, who seems to have been born to write.” Amanda Heller, Boston Globe

An intricate deconstruction of a love affair done in an intellectual, Seinfeldian style . . . The commentary hits the nail on the head.” Amy Sohn, The Week

Witty, funny, sophisticated, neatly tied up, and full of wise and illuminating insights.” P. J. Kavanagh, Spectator

I doubt if de Botton has written a dull sentence in his life.” Jan Morris, New Statesman

A dazzlingly original, erudite and witty journey through all the vagaries of romantic love. A total delight.” Josephine Hart, author of Sin and Damage

The smart and funny On Love is just the strong cup of coffee needed to clear your head after a sticky sweet like The Bridges of Madison County. On Love is romantic reality.” News & Observer

A tour de force pleasure of a first novel . . . A dissertation/novel on romantic narcissism that’s both intellectually stimulating and emotionally touching. A very promising debut.” Kirkus Reviews