Bill Roorbach's new novel is shortlisted for the inaugural Kirkus award for fiction. KMUW book reviewer Sarah Bagby tells us why she thinks this book is his best yet.
In his new novel The Remedy for Love, Bill Roorbach places two strangers--Daniela, a mess of a woman, deceitful and dishonest; and Eric, a small-town lawyer still hopeful for his marriage despite the obvious clues to its disillusion--in a primitive cabin in the remote woods of Maine during “the snow storm of the century.” Over several days of isolation we are on a journey through the human heart in multi-stages of love and heartbreak.
The Remedy of Love is a love story; a guy's love story. Daniela is attractive... underneath the rose and white strap peeking out from behind a loose shirt, despite the sprained ankle, and dirty matted hair, is the curve of her shoulder, or nape of her neck and she desperately needs help. It’s not hard or complicated for Eric to give into his physical urge. On the other hand, Daniela's nature is WAY more than he bargained for, and she is dispassionate about being saved. Roorbach has taken these dynamics (mostly typical) to the extremes.
That said I loved this novel. It's funny and painful; it's insightful, revealing the futility and importance of human kindness. I felt the chill: Roorbach had me in the snow and in a cabin with drifts blocking the doors and windows, the heavy branches of the hemlock trees crashing onto the roof, then scraping eerily to the ground with a muted thud.
Roorbach's male characters could easily become bitter and cynical because of their trouble in love, but as Thoreau observed in his lonely days “the remedy for love is more love.”
This review originally aired during Morning Edition on 10/20/14.