Review: The Remedy for Love by Bill Roorbach |

Hardcover: 320 pages
Publisher: Algonquin Books (October 14, 2014)
ISBN: 9781616203313
Source: Personal copy

When Eric, a small town lawyer in Maine, hears a prediction for a “storm of the century,” he closes his office early and heads to the grocery store to stock up on supplies. There he comes across Danielle, young woman unable to cover the cost of her overflowing cart of groceries. Feeling charitable, he pays for her groceries and offers her a ride home.

As they arrive at her “home,” it is quickly apparent to Eric that she can’t possibly weather this storm without his help. Danielle has been squatting in a remote cabin deep in the woods. Without electricity, plumbing, water or firewood, there is no chance she can survive the storm, much less a long, cold winter. Despite Danielle’s protestations, Eric lends aid to at least get her through this storm. As he goes to leave, he finds his truck has been towed, cell phone inside, and no means of communicating with the outside world. Reluctantly, he trudges back to Danielle’s cabin. Furious, she reluctantly allows him to come indoors. Forced to rely on one another, Eric and Danielle must seek safety, and ultimately comfort, in one another if they are going to survive this storm.

The Remedy for Love is certainly not the type of book I would typically be drawn too. Two vastly different characters, forced together by an act of nature, really not my sort of thing. Yet dozens of people were talking about it and how quickly they were captivated by its embrace. Stuck in a week-long reading slump, I was desperate. I picked it up. I didn’t put it down until a few hours later as I turned the last page.

Roorbach’s eloquent and truly breathtaking prose captivated me. The way he describes the most mundane things gives them the appearance of something that far exceeds their actual identity. He has crafted a story of two vastly different people, drawn together seemingly by circumstance. The ultimate realization that it is fate, not a winter storm, that brought these two people together, takes this novel to a completely different level.

Eric and his wife are separated. Their initial attempts to meet up once a month to work on their relationship has failed. He still goes on with hope that their relationship will be rekindled, that their time apart will come to and end. His warm and caring character is the complete opposite to Danielle’s rough, and caustic one. She, too, is married. Alone after her husband is sent to fight in the war, she struggles to get by after losing her teaching job. While Eric is more upfront and open about his life, Danielle only shares what she thinks is safe. It isn’t until she opens herself up completely to Eric that it quickly becomes apparent that these two individuals are fare more similar than they could have imagined. Both in denial about a loss in their lives, it’s just not the storm they need to ride out and survive but the acceptance that the life they had known is never going to recover. The cabin, their shelter as they weather the storm, is a symbol of the life they each have built up to withstand the battles of life. Under the weight of the storm, both the cabin, and the resolve and denial they have built up over time, slowly groans and crumbles.

I cannot recommend this title enough. It won me over instantly, not only helping me overcome my reading slump but forcing me to open my eyes and embrace a novel I normally wouldn’t have picked up on my own. Its message and beauty are inspiring, a lasting and moving story that will resound within me for some time. Without a doubt this novel will top my favorites of not only this year, but of all time. Highly, highly recommended.