Reviews for Love may fail : a novel
Book list
From Booklist, Copyright © American Library Association. Used with permission.
Portia Kane, another delightfully quirky and sympathetically flawed Quick (The Silver Linings Playbook, 2008) heroine, sets out on a quest to find her favorite high-school English teacher a disabled recluse who barely survived a vicious beating at the hands of a student in order to help him and to resurrect her own diminishing belief in good men and hope. After leaving her adulterous, porn-producing husband, she travels back to her down-in-the-heels New Jersey hometown, where she connects with a pithy old nun; makes peace with her mentally unstable, hoarder mother; and finds love with a kindhearted ex-heroin addict. As her odyssey told from multiple points of view unfolds, it becomes more and more clear that her search-and-rescue mission will have a ripple effect, benefiting multiple characters, including Portia herself. Quick, an ex-teacher, nails the symbiotic student-teacher relationship, with all of its attendant baggage, squarely on the head in this engaging slice-of-life dramedy with definite big-screen potential. High-Demand Backstory: Both The Silver Linings Playbook and The Good Luck of Right Now (currently in production) were best-sellers; expect no less from his latest engaging offering as Quick continues to connect with both book and film audiences.--Flanagan, Margaret Copyright 2015 Booklist
Kirkus
Copyright © Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.
When a metal head princess, a reformed junkie, a fast-talking woman of God, and a despondent retired teacher walk into a book, unpredictable chaos ensues. In his amusing but disjointed new novel, the author of The Silver Linings Playbook (2008) channels four troubled narrators to varying effect. First we meet Portia Kane, an aging trophy wife about to shoot her porn-producer husband and his perky teen lover. Then she wisely abandons this plan and storms out, instead embarking on a quest to save her hoarder mother, her suicidal high school English teacher, andyou knew this was comingherself (in an awkward little subplot, this involves publishing a book that gets a poor Kirkus review). The teacher, Mr. Vernon, barely survived a beating by one of his students and now lives alone in the woods with a broken spirit, a lot of wine, and a dog named Albert Camus. (Quick does his best work with Vernon, who lusts after "the noses of Jewish women" and waxes nostalgic for "late PBS painter Bob Ross.") Portia lands on his doorstep in time to delay his death but not before she reconnects with a hometown friend's handsome brother, who's been crushing on her for 20 years and later chronicles their relationship in his own section. Need a breath yet? Take one now, before the nun. Our final tour guide is Sister Maeve Smith, who speaks from beyond the grave via letters to her son, aka Mr. Vernon, after she meets Portia on a plane. Call it fate, call it coincidence, call it too much ploteither way, you can't fault Quick for being short on ideas. All his books have been optioned for movies, including this one, and they almost make more sense that way: it's easy to imagine this quartet of busy narrators, whose similar voices sometimes fall flat on the page, brought to life beautifully by the right cast. An overstuffed ode to bygone pop culture and the unattainable literary life. Copyright Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.
Library Journal
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In his third novel Quick covers some of the same ground as in The Silver Linings Playbook and The Good Luck of Right Now, focusing on unhappy and broken people finding and making a new sort of family that helps them persevere and even dream. It is also about strange coincidences, fate, a divine plan, or dumb luck, depending on your perspective. (All of those explanations are subscribed to by different characters in the book.) Portia Kane leaves an unhappy marriage to return to her South Jersey home. Along the way she meets a frisky nun, learns how to cope with her hoarder mom, rediscovers her love of hair metal (particularly Mötley Crüe), finds love again, and embarks on a quest to "resurrect" her former English teacher Mr. Vernon, a man literally broken by an old student. The story is told in four parts, each by its own narrator, which serves to give some sharp perspective on the different characters. VERDICT An easy, enjoyable, and thoughtful read with laughs and tears along the way. Quick's devotees won't be disappointed. [See Prepub Alert, 12/6/14.]-Amy Watts, Univ. of Georgia Lib., Athens © Copyright 2015. Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.
Publishers Weekly
(c) Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved
Quick's (The Good Luck of Right Now) latest is the story of Portia Kane, who leaves her millionaire porn-producer husband in Florida after discovering him in bed with a much younger woman. Portia flies back to her hoarding mother's hovel in New Jersey, on a quest to find and save her favorite high school teacher-the reclusive Mr. Vernon, who disappeared after an attack by a bat-wielding student. The story unfolds through multiple points of view: those of Portia; the Camus-quoting, suicidal Mr. Vernon; Sister Maeve, Portia's wry, acerbic seatmate on her flight home; Mr. Vernon's estranged mother (revealed through her one-sided epistolary relationship with her son); and Chuck Bass, a long-sober heroin addict who shares Portia's love of heavy metal and was also profoundly affected by Mr. Vernon. Though Portia's story is the main thread, Quick captures the essence of these other characters better; in their own imperfections and in relationship to her, they are more interesting. Still, this darkly funny, profanity-filled novel fits together, jagged edges and all, and readers will be engrossed. (June) © Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved.
