Wednesday, March 9, 2011

You Don't Love This Man by Dan DeWeese


You Don't Love This Man follows Paul on the day of his daughter's wedding.  His daughter is marrying Paul's former best friend, Grant, and the engagement was the reason the two men are no longer friends.  Paul is a bank manager, and as the day progresses, he looks back over his life trying to decide if his relationships and his career choices have been the correct ones.

Many of Paul's relationships seem tentative, or muddied by emotions that he can't decipher.  Paul is divorced from Sandra.  Theirs was not a marriage that dissolved in passion and anger; it just died from boredom and familiarity.  He loves his daughter, Miranda, but she is incomprehensible to him; he has no map that tells him why she does the things she does, or what she might do next.  He worries that this marriage, to a man his own age so obviously old enough to be her father, is a bad life choice, and is frustrated that he doesn't seem to have any input into her decision.

There are other characters.  Grant, the groom, is a confident wealthy man who has always acted as a mentor to Paul, although they are peers.  He met Grant the day he was robbed and beaten by a bank robber.  Grant was dating Paul's ex-girlfriend, Gina, and he wasn't sure how he felt about that.  Paul had just started dating Sandra and the couples were close for a while.  Grant remained a part of Paul and Sandra's circle over the years, and Miranda ended up as an adult working for Gina.

You Don't Love This Man is recommended for readers interested in a book that makes one consider their life choices and the consequences that flow from each decision.  It also brings up the concept that what happens to us, good or bad, affects our lives for many years in both good and bad ways; the connection to events that becomes more and more clear as one ages.  DeWeese has given the reader an entrance into Paul's thoughts, hopes and desires in a way that books rarely do.

1 comment:

Anonymous said...

The decision we make really CAN affect the rest of our lives, but it's funny how we often can't see that until many, many years later. It sound like this book makes you think about that fact right now.

I'm glad you enjoyed this one - thanks for being on the tour.