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Love, in Theory: Ten Stories
In this funny, brainy, thoroughly engaging debut collection, an award-winning writer looks at romance through the lens of scholarly theories to illuminate love in the information age.
In ten captivating and tender stories, E. J. Levy takes readers through the surprisingly erotic terrain of the intellect, offering a smart and modern take on the age-old theme of love―whether between a man and woman, a man and a man, a woman and a woman, or a mother and a child―drawing readers into tales of passion, adultery, and heartbreak. A disheartened English professor’s life changes when she goes rock climbing and falls for an outdoorsman. A gay oncologist attending his sister’s second wedding ponders dark matter in the universe and the ties that bind us. Three psychiatric patients, each convinced that he is Christ, give rise to a love affair in a small Minnesota town. A Brooklyn woman is thrown out of an ashram for choosing earthly love over enlightenment. A lesbian student of film learns theories of dramatic action the hard way―by falling for a married male professor. Incorporating theories from physics to film to philosophy, from Rational Choice to Thorstein Veblen’s Theory of the Leisure Class , these stories movingly explore the heart and mind―shooting cupid’s arrow toward a target that may never be reached.
In ten captivating and tender stories, E. J. Levy takes readers through the surprisingly erotic terrain of the intellect, offering a smart and modern take on the age-old theme of love―whether between a man and woman, a man and a man, a woman and a woman, or a mother and a child―drawing readers into tales of passion, adultery, and heartbreak. A disheartened English professor’s life changes when she goes rock climbing and falls for an outdoorsman. A gay oncologist attending his sister’s second wedding ponders dark matter in the universe and the ties that bind us. Three psychiatric patients, each convinced that he is Christ, give rise to a love affair in a small Minnesota town. A Brooklyn woman is thrown out of an ashram for choosing earthly love over enlightenment. A lesbian student of film learns theories of dramatic action the hard way―by falling for a married male professor. Incorporating theories from physics to film to philosophy, from Rational Choice to Thorstein Veblen’s Theory of the Leisure Class , these stories movingly explore the heart and mind―shooting cupid’s arrow toward a target that may never be reached.
224 pages, Paperback
First published September 15, 2012
11 people are currently reading
330 people want to read
About the author
E.J. Levy
9 books89 followersEJ Levy’s debut novel, THE CAPE DOCTOR (Little Brown), was named a NEW YORK TIMES Editors’ Choice book, one of Barnes & Noble’s Best Books of Summer, and won a 2022 Colorado Book Award. A French edition was published by L'Olivier in 2023 and won the 2024 Prix Libr'a Nous for Foreign Fiction. Her story collection, LOVE, IN THEORY, won a Flannery O’Connor Award and GLCA New Writers Award for Fiction; KIRKUS named it a Best Indie Book of the Year. Levy’s anthology, TASTING LIFE TWICE: Literary Lesbian Fiction by New American Writers, won a Lambda Literary Award. Her work has appeared in THE NEW YORK TIMES, THE PARIS REVIEW, KENYON REVIEW, THE WASHINGTON POST, BEST AMERICAN ESSAYS, ORION, and THE NATION, and has been twice named among Distinguished Stories in BEST AMERICAN SHORT STORIES.
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 33 reviews
December 14, 2012
In the past, I have always avoided short fiction, with the grudging exception of some anthologies with really appealing themes (ex. Zombies vs. Unicorns). Generally, short stories haven't made a whole lot of sense to me, since they tend either to be scrapped ideas that weren't good enough to make into a novel or too short to do a fabulous idea justice. Either I don't want the story at all or I want it to be much longer, a proper novel. Well, I happily report that E. J. Levy's short story collection Love, in Theory is precisely what I want short fiction to be.
These ten stories dovetail together nicely, covering a lot of the same ground with slight variations. I love Levy's writing, even in the stories I didn't care for as much. She also makes a lot of fabulous observations with a cynicism and honesty I find quite delightful. I expected this collection of stories about love to be something like a written version of the film Love, Actually, and I suppose it sort of is. However, Levy's stories are all a bit on the melancholy side, lacking the cute couples uniting to make a happy ending, like Love, Actually has, though it actually does have several stories that do not end well.
The last TLC blog tour I participated in was for Before the Rain: A Memoir of Love and Revolution, a memoir supposedly of love and revolution that follows the romance of two lesbian reporters. I could not help comparing these two, because for all that Before the Rain is non-fiction and Love, in Theory fiction, this short story collection feels infinitely more personal. Having finished this, whether incorrectly or no, I feel I have a sense of who E. J. Levy is, through some of the themes that continually appeared throughout the stories, especially as several of the main characters were writers or worked in academia. In reading this, I felt as though I could sense Levy working through issues she had confronted in her own life or in the lives of close friends and family members. This closeness I felt for the author, whether I'm right or not, made the stories so much more powerful for me.
Over half of the stories focus on well-educated women in their late twenties to early thirties, who struggle with love and romance. These women long for romance, for connection, but, when they find it, the theory of the emotion, the ideal, the dream, does not really seem to fit into their lives. These stories, while they might bore some with the similarity of the heroines, held the most appeal for me, since I cannot help seeing myself reflected in them. Reading about women who have similar reactions and difficulties with romantic relationships to mine was incredibly cathartic.
Another subject that comes up in nearly every story is adultery. If you can't handle stories of infidelity, this collection will not be for you. The adultery comes in just about every form, and, though that's a subject I don't tend to love either, handled quite deftly. This does not seem to have been included for shock value or torridness, but just because that's life; it's a thing that happens and, unfortunately, has to be included in any depiction of love, in the working out of what love really might mean in the face of all of this cheating.
The other most interesting repetition, that again I can't help but stick out to me as perhaps being personal, is that of a lesbian becoming very attracted to a straight man, whether or not she acts on it. Interesting, too, is that the sole gay main character does not question his sexuality, though he does fight against settling down, as almost all of these characters do. The LGBT themes run strongly here, appearing in slightly less than half of the stories.
These stories will not appeal to everyone, but I loved it. A couple of the stories in the middle fell flat for me story-wise, so I couldn't quite rate this five stars. The themes and tone herein remind me a lot of Carol Shields' The Republic of Love, so if you enjoyed that I recommend this heartily, and vice versa.
These ten stories dovetail together nicely, covering a lot of the same ground with slight variations. I love Levy's writing, even in the stories I didn't care for as much. She also makes a lot of fabulous observations with a cynicism and honesty I find quite delightful. I expected this collection of stories about love to be something like a written version of the film Love, Actually, and I suppose it sort of is. However, Levy's stories are all a bit on the melancholy side, lacking the cute couples uniting to make a happy ending, like Love, Actually has, though it actually does have several stories that do not end well.
The last TLC blog tour I participated in was for Before the Rain: A Memoir of Love and Revolution, a memoir supposedly of love and revolution that follows the romance of two lesbian reporters. I could not help comparing these two, because for all that Before the Rain is non-fiction and Love, in Theory fiction, this short story collection feels infinitely more personal. Having finished this, whether incorrectly or no, I feel I have a sense of who E. J. Levy is, through some of the themes that continually appeared throughout the stories, especially as several of the main characters were writers or worked in academia. In reading this, I felt as though I could sense Levy working through issues she had confronted in her own life or in the lives of close friends and family members. This closeness I felt for the author, whether I'm right or not, made the stories so much more powerful for me.
Over half of the stories focus on well-educated women in their late twenties to early thirties, who struggle with love and romance. These women long for romance, for connection, but, when they find it, the theory of the emotion, the ideal, the dream, does not really seem to fit into their lives. These stories, while they might bore some with the similarity of the heroines, held the most appeal for me, since I cannot help seeing myself reflected in them. Reading about women who have similar reactions and difficulties with romantic relationships to mine was incredibly cathartic.
Another subject that comes up in nearly every story is adultery. If you can't handle stories of infidelity, this collection will not be for you. The adultery comes in just about every form, and, though that's a subject I don't tend to love either, handled quite deftly. This does not seem to have been included for shock value or torridness, but just because that's life; it's a thing that happens and, unfortunately, has to be included in any depiction of love, in the working out of what love really might mean in the face of all of this cheating.
The other most interesting repetition, that again I can't help but stick out to me as perhaps being personal, is that of a lesbian becoming very attracted to a straight man, whether or not she acts on it. Interesting, too, is that the sole gay main character does not question his sexuality, though he does fight against settling down, as almost all of these characters do. The LGBT themes run strongly here, appearing in slightly less than half of the stories.
These stories will not appeal to everyone, but I loved it. A couple of the stories in the middle fell flat for me story-wise, so I couldn't quite rate this five stars. The themes and tone herein remind me a lot of Carol Shields' The Republic of Love, so if you enjoyed that I recommend this heartily, and vice versa.
March 5, 2013
A smart and witty first collection of stories, this Flannery O'Connor winner uses humor and intelligence to trace many different incarnations of love, mostly focusing on how it fails and falls apart. The best stories in it ("The Best Way Not to Freeze", "My Life in Theory", and "Theory of Dramatic Action") all infuse this failure with hope, a resilience of the human spirit that is rare in short fiction these days. Its best achievement though is the way it makes you laugh with the author and her narrators, even in the face of devastation, because this makes the moments of gravity hit with greater effect and makes these characters stay with you, even though their time is brief, like the lovers, husbands and wives that populate Ms. Levy's world.
November 28, 2016
A really good collection of stories dealing with relationships. The writing is clever and sharp, the characters believable. Ms. Levy has an keen insight into the interactions of couples, and the seemingly insignificant events that have great impact. This collection won the Flannery O'Connor Award for Short Fiction.
"You consider dating as you might consider buying another car. You consider your options: models, design, year of manufacture, dents and damage and mileage, comfort of the ride. It seems a practical matter now. Cars and marriage and love. These vehicles that move us through our lives, from the continent of youth into what seems to you now the compromised and embattled territory of middle age."
"He imagines this is how the astronauts must feel, nostalgic for the pull of something larger than themselves, longing to be drawn into the orbit of a greater force and held there. It is the heart they have to worry about in space, someone has told him. In zero gravity, the heart will grow too large and slack. Without the pull of a greater force, it fails us."
There are many such passages throughout this collection that I wish I had written down. Only one story, "The Theory of Transportation" fell short for me. I couldn't place the narrator who seemed to shift from scene to scene. Still a good collection.
"You consider dating as you might consider buying another car. You consider your options: models, design, year of manufacture, dents and damage and mileage, comfort of the ride. It seems a practical matter now. Cars and marriage and love. These vehicles that move us through our lives, from the continent of youth into what seems to you now the compromised and embattled territory of middle age."
"He imagines this is how the astronauts must feel, nostalgic for the pull of something larger than themselves, longing to be drawn into the orbit of a greater force and held there. It is the heart they have to worry about in space, someone has told him. In zero gravity, the heart will grow too large and slack. Without the pull of a greater force, it fails us."
There are many such passages throughout this collection that I wish I had written down. Only one story, "The Theory of Transportation" fell short for me. I couldn't place the narrator who seemed to shift from scene to scene. Still a good collection.
November 2, 2016
This book is the kind a reader should keep for easy reading before going to sleep, or something to flip through on a slow afternoon. Love, In Theory is a relaxed read, but more than that it is quirky and leaves you giggling to yourself because we have all been the characters on these pages. The cover of this book states that the book is ten pieces of short fiction in the dealings of life, love, and relationships- yet E. J. Levy has created here ten stories that mirror anyone who has ever waded into the dating pool. We have all been the woman who packed a beautiful picnic meal for her boyfriend only for him to comment on the impracticality of it all, and in turn we have all been the family outcast at a wedding when the truth of your father’s affair and mistress comes to light.
Each piece is written from the perspective of a completely different character with no surface ties to the other stories in this book, yet Levy makes the reader forget that all of these were written by one author, creating ten completely unique narrators with their own personality and own views on love. One story is told from the view of a philosopher whose narrative is more longwinded and thoughtful than others, while in contrast another is told from the point of view of a mental institution worker who speaks in short sentences and never wonders about the divinity of monogamy or the morality of lovers. The one thing that all these characters share in common, the piece of evidence that links them to Levy’s writing style, is the satirical and witty narrative that each character makes of their situation. It is not only refreshing but also relatable as each character faces a different facet of the turmoil that love can often bring. Levy also does a fantastic job of creating characters that are real in the sense that they all have down-to-earth jobs, budgets, and they get Vietnamese take-out for one.
Other than the wit of the characters, they are linked by an underlying theme of adultery that sneaks into almost all ten of Levy’s fiction pieces. Affairs can be an old and tired subject for fiction, yet Levy approaches it from so many different characters that it becomes a topic worthy of fascination. Sometimes the narrator is the one cheating but justifies it because they are tired in their long relationship, and other times it is the faithful narrator who is cheated on. Regardless, the adultery in Love, in Theory is unique to every story Levy has included here, and addresses a different issue that sometimes comes with relationships and love; getting too comfortable, the loss of passion, resentment, and the question begging if the institution of marriage can truly stay monogamous ‘til death do the poor bastards part.
Overall, E. J. Levy has created a delightful read on the bittersweet pains new love offers, and the growing pains of worn-in relationships. This book is a great read for anyone looking for a quick and fun read, but do not come to this collection of stories looking for a deep, soul-wrenching analysis of love. Instead, come to this book ready to face your own experiences; told by the tales of ten people who clumsily fumble through dating in the adult world, and whose happy ending is sometimes not a grand wedding, but yet a brownstone apartment, with chipping paint and creaky floors, that is on the other side of town from your ex and his new girlfriend.
Each piece is written from the perspective of a completely different character with no surface ties to the other stories in this book, yet Levy makes the reader forget that all of these were written by one author, creating ten completely unique narrators with their own personality and own views on love. One story is told from the view of a philosopher whose narrative is more longwinded and thoughtful than others, while in contrast another is told from the point of view of a mental institution worker who speaks in short sentences and never wonders about the divinity of monogamy or the morality of lovers. The one thing that all these characters share in common, the piece of evidence that links them to Levy’s writing style, is the satirical and witty narrative that each character makes of their situation. It is not only refreshing but also relatable as each character faces a different facet of the turmoil that love can often bring. Levy also does a fantastic job of creating characters that are real in the sense that they all have down-to-earth jobs, budgets, and they get Vietnamese take-out for one.
Other than the wit of the characters, they are linked by an underlying theme of adultery that sneaks into almost all ten of Levy’s fiction pieces. Affairs can be an old and tired subject for fiction, yet Levy approaches it from so many different characters that it becomes a topic worthy of fascination. Sometimes the narrator is the one cheating but justifies it because they are tired in their long relationship, and other times it is the faithful narrator who is cheated on. Regardless, the adultery in Love, in Theory is unique to every story Levy has included here, and addresses a different issue that sometimes comes with relationships and love; getting too comfortable, the loss of passion, resentment, and the question begging if the institution of marriage can truly stay monogamous ‘til death do the poor bastards part.
Overall, E. J. Levy has created a delightful read on the bittersweet pains new love offers, and the growing pains of worn-in relationships. This book is a great read for anyone looking for a quick and fun read, but do not come to this collection of stories looking for a deep, soul-wrenching analysis of love. Instead, come to this book ready to face your own experiences; told by the tales of ten people who clumsily fumble through dating in the adult world, and whose happy ending is sometimes not a grand wedding, but yet a brownstone apartment, with chipping paint and creaky floors, that is on the other side of town from your ex and his new girlfriend.
September 16, 2012
Rich, funny, heartfelt, and intellectual stories from a hugely talented writer.
February 7, 2024
I liked most of the stories, especially small bright thing, best way not to freeze and my life in theory! the whole collection went into question when i realized the author labeled herself a lesbian and married a man though. personally, i'm not too strict on labels but i find the way the author inserts herself in lesbian political causes strange. especially with the story theory of dramatic action. overall a decent collection though.
September 20, 2012
Love, In Theory is a literary collection of ten short stories about how love works. Levy touches on all kinds of relationships: married, unmarried, heterosexual, homosexual, transgender, older couples, younger couples. All of the stories have a running theme of infidelity (except perhaps the first one).
Levy’s characters attempt to figure out what infidelity means in today’s world. Is it really wrong? Can you still love your partner even if you aren’t monogamous? She hits on a lot of the same questions as books like The Unbearable Lightness of Being (which I think must have inspired some of these stories. There is even a line in the last story about how lightness can feel so heavy and I was like OK, Milan Kundera).
Her characters are smart and insightful and a little lost. Many of them feel disconnected in some way. Maybe they are broken, or maybe they know what they don’t want but not what they do want. At some point in your life you have probably also felt this way. I know I have! I actually just wrote a story for my creative fiction class (I’m takin’ a fiction class, y’all) about it. The brilliant part is that her characters aren’t melodramatic even though they are depressive, which is a fine line to draw.
Let me give you an example of the best comparison that I’ve read in a really long time. My mouth was open in awe and I wanted to clap. At the end of the first story (my favorite story!), the main character has just lost the first man she has ever really loved and she compares it to a time when she climbed a rock wall. Once she got high enough, she freaked out and froze up. She was calling for help for a long time before anyone came to save her. And even though she knew they were coming and that she was going to be OK eventually, she couldn’t help but be terrified and feel totally alone in the meantime. Man, can Levy craft an ending!
E.J. Levy’s style is very simple but packs a lot of meaning. Her stories taught me so much about writing. We are learning about a bunch of different writing techniques in class, and she made them come alive and make sense.
I LOVED these stories! I find questions about marriage and monogamy fascinating because, although I love romance novels, I’m a little skeptical of the kind of big love that is portrayed in them. That said, Love, In Theory can be rough for an optimist to handle. I found myself wishing the stories were more hopeful. I was expecting literary romance stories, but got something different (and possibly better?). Perhaps there is more universal truth in sadness than in happiness?
Levy’s characters attempt to figure out what infidelity means in today’s world. Is it really wrong? Can you still love your partner even if you aren’t monogamous? She hits on a lot of the same questions as books like The Unbearable Lightness of Being (which I think must have inspired some of these stories. There is even a line in the last story about how lightness can feel so heavy and I was like OK, Milan Kundera).
Her characters are smart and insightful and a little lost. Many of them feel disconnected in some way. Maybe they are broken, or maybe they know what they don’t want but not what they do want. At some point in your life you have probably also felt this way. I know I have! I actually just wrote a story for my creative fiction class (I’m takin’ a fiction class, y’all) about it. The brilliant part is that her characters aren’t melodramatic even though they are depressive, which is a fine line to draw.
Let me give you an example of the best comparison that I’ve read in a really long time. My mouth was open in awe and I wanted to clap. At the end of the first story (my favorite story!), the main character has just lost the first man she has ever really loved and she compares it to a time when she climbed a rock wall. Once she got high enough, she freaked out and froze up. She was calling for help for a long time before anyone came to save her. And even though she knew they were coming and that she was going to be OK eventually, she couldn’t help but be terrified and feel totally alone in the meantime. Man, can Levy craft an ending!
E.J. Levy’s style is very simple but packs a lot of meaning. Her stories taught me so much about writing. We are learning about a bunch of different writing techniques in class, and she made them come alive and make sense.
I LOVED these stories! I find questions about marriage and monogamy fascinating because, although I love romance novels, I’m a little skeptical of the kind of big love that is portrayed in them. That said, Love, In Theory can be rough for an optimist to handle. I found myself wishing the stories were more hopeful. I was expecting literary romance stories, but got something different (and possibly better?). Perhaps there is more universal truth in sadness than in happiness?
July 22, 2013
Just took this down from the shelf again, on learning that E.J. Levy won a ForeWord 2012 Book of the Year award for Love, in Theory. Smooth and sophisticated, it pairs well with a G&T on a summer evening when you feel like eavesdropping on the love lives of everyone you know, gay or straight, old or young, sexed or un. Its a perfect hammock-in-the-breeze book. There are lots of shapely literary references to steal glimpses of, and it's got great hair. (Not a word out of place in any single sentence!)
Each story develops a well-crafted theme relating how we love (which makes no sense) with how we try to make sense of the world. Is there such thing as "true love" between any two partners? Or it is all just theory?
Savor each story. They're all beautifully written from start to finish, deserving of the Flannery O'Conner prize given for this début collection to an author in complete control of her material.
It's so refreshing to read a collection that really holds together like this. Make your way to the nearest independent bookstore to pick up Love, in Theory, and while you're at it, have you ever mixed a second drink to really listen to Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil (the soundtrack), or Du Jazz dans le Ravin by Serge Gainsbourg? To me, Love, in Theory feels like the long-lost twin sibling to both those smooth, sexy, brainy musical compilations.
Get out there, dear reader, and start really savoring your summer!gf
Each story develops a well-crafted theme relating how we love (which makes no sense) with how we try to make sense of the world. Is there such thing as "true love" between any two partners? Or it is all just theory?
Savor each story. They're all beautifully written from start to finish, deserving of the Flannery O'Conner prize given for this début collection to an author in complete control of her material.
It's so refreshing to read a collection that really holds together like this. Make your way to the nearest independent bookstore to pick up Love, in Theory, and while you're at it, have you ever mixed a second drink to really listen to Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil (the soundtrack), or Du Jazz dans le Ravin by Serge Gainsbourg? To me, Love, in Theory feels like the long-lost twin sibling to both those smooth, sexy, brainy musical compilations.
Get out there, dear reader, and start really savoring your summer!gf
November 7, 2012
Love, in Theory by E.J. Levy is a gorgeous collection of short stories examining the nature of love, need, desire, and connection in human experience. Levy’s prose is compelling and poetic, succeeding in embodying each character with complexity and uniqueness. This is an especially impressive accomplishment because Levy dives deeply into all types of love—affairs, new romances, decades of marriage, gay and lesbian relationships, family feuds—with the same meticulous attention to detail and voice. It’s this kind of fluidity that makes it easy to understand why this collection is a winner of the Flannery O’Connor Award for Short Fiction. (Full review:
http://inthenextroom.blogspot.com/201...)
http://inthenextroom.blogspot.com/201...)
April 1, 2013
I work with undergraduate English majors; many would like to study creative writing. This is the sort of book that I would encourage them to read because it's often, in part, that reading good literature helps us become better writers. This is good literature. E.J. Levy has a rhythm and flow that I love and her word choice and voice are beautiful.
The lack of one more star is probably just personal preference--these stories present a somewhat depressing view of love. Yes, love is hard and confusing and mixed-up and disappointing, etc. But, I think I just view it with slightly more optimism than in these stories.
This may be a book I eventually buy, though, because I really enjoyed how it is written.
The lack of one more star is probably just personal preference--these stories present a somewhat depressing view of love. Yes, love is hard and confusing and mixed-up and disappointing, etc. But, I think I just view it with slightly more optimism than in these stories.
This may be a book I eventually buy, though, because I really enjoyed how it is written.
April 22, 2013
An unsentimental look at love - examined in all it's complicated and messy glory. This collection of stories about relationships moves away from theoretical love, instead showing the examined life. Levy's writing is graceful, intelligent and direct - sculpting stories that find their own niche.
May 22, 2015
This is quite a nice read, and touching in many ways. Some of the stories were cheesy, but most of them are really subtle and beautiful. There are a wide range of stories that all express the love we feel for others.
February 5, 2016
Ten witty, funny, moving stories examining the many facets of love and revealing the foibles and compromises made in this pursue. Masterful plotting, terrific narrative style and characters one will remember. Fits my image of what a writer should do.
September 17, 2012
Love, relationships, and human nature at its finest - beautifully-written stories well deserved of the Flannery O'Connor Award
January 3, 2025
Coming out in October! Reading at Politics and Prose in DC on October 14 at 1 pm.
More on this author: http://ejlevy.com/
More on this author: http://ejlevy.com/
Want to read
September 19, 2013I really liked this article in the Rumpus. Hope her short stories are similar.
May 12, 2014
I haven't read a lot of short story collections and really enjoyed this one. I enjoyed how dynamic and different all the stories were.
June 21, 2015
E.J. is a master of the short story. If you write about relationships or the interior lives of women, this is a book to keep in your arsenal.
July 3, 2016
Tales of not so happy love and relationships showing many of the odd behaviors that couples have and how they meet, stay together and break up despite their best intentions.
April 16, 2017
Beautifully written, great storytelling, horrendously negative (or real?) outlook on love. Maybe don't read right after a break up. Idk.
November 7, 2018
A beautiful book: intellectual and elegant.
December 6, 2021
Recommended for fans of Lorrie Moore.
June 16, 2022
3.5/5
Favs: Rat Choice, My Life in Theory
Others did not have a voice w strong conviction
Repeating themes: sudden endings, rocking the boat of domesticity bc you start to wonder if that is all there is, lots of infidelity and for What, people are curious and irrational, restrains of LoVe, infatuation/desire for something new for the Thrill of it, REGRET, finding themselves in GOD/religion bc there is structure and lvl of certainty in that kind of love even if it requires faith
Favs: Rat Choice, My Life in Theory
Others did not have a voice w strong conviction
Repeating themes: sudden endings, rocking the boat of domesticity bc you start to wonder if that is all there is, lots of infidelity and for What, people are curious and irrational, restrains of LoVe, infatuation/desire for something new for the Thrill of it, REGRET, finding themselves in GOD/religion bc there is structure and lvl of certainty in that kind of love even if it requires faith
March 9, 2024
There’s a reason this short story collection took me so long to get thru and that is because while some stories were interesting in set up and concept, most just fell flat for me and said nothing new.
April 8, 2019
A wonderful collection of short fiction I read after hearing the author read from one of the stories. These are stories you won't forget, even years after you've read them.
Read
August 30, 20192012 Flannery O'Connor Award for Short Fiction
December 6, 2021
Beautiful stories, if often sad.
October 29, 2020
We should consider E.J. Levy’s debut collection, Love, In Theory, (winner of the Flannery O’Connor Award for Short Fiction) as a lesser-known corollary of The Notorious B.I.G.’s formulation, “Mo’ Money, Mo’ Problems.” In her case: “Mo’ Education, Mo’ Problems.” Because even though the majority of characters in Love, In Theory are either academics themselves or are related to academia in some way, despite their deep wells of knowledge, they still find themselves at odds figuring out this crazy little thing called love.
In this collection, love takes on many forms—heterosexual, homosexual, bisexual, lesbian—but the infidelity remains constant. Betrayals, of one kind or another are the predominant catalysts for most of the stories, but Levy finds interesting tweaks on the matter. In “Theory of Enlightenment,” Renee finds her boyfriend, Richard, jilting her not for another woman, but for an ashram in upstate New York. (“I feel like a karmic rest stop,” she says.) The problem of getting spiritually dumped recurs, this time with lesbians, in “Theory of Transportation.”
But Love, In Theory goes beyond being a catalog of indignities and unfaithfulness. In almost every story, Levy sneaks in sly, cerebral humor. She’s unafraid of using puns and bons mots as an antidote to the maudlin and bathetic, giving her writing a lightness that doesn’t lessen the heartbreak, but instead lends it a more knowing ache.
The erudition of her characters also offers them a certain perspective on their lives. The married professor in “My Life in Theory,” for example, knows that he shouldn’t fall for a young man, but does so anyway, and though he tries to keep his voice disinterested throughout the story, the emotional cracks start to show.
Indeed, the tone throughout the stories might, at times, seem too homogenous, and one drawback of having a consistent voice and worldview in a collection is that the stories that deviate from that voice tend to stick out. In particular, the decidedly blue-collar orderly who attends the titular “The Three Christs of Moose Lake, Minnesota” feels slightly off. In isolation, the story stands up well; indeed, it was a finalist for the prestigious Nelson Algren Award from the Chicago Tribune. However, juxtaposed against the other stories, the narrator’s constant use of “y’know” and his insistence that he needs to look up certain words and literary allusions comes off as disingenuous.
Luckily, Levy includes some well-needed thematic variations. The half-Korean main character in “Small Bright Thing,” for instance, introduces considerations of race, while “Theory of the Leisure Class” leaves the United States (many of the stories have a Minnesota connection) for the more exotic climes of Costa Rica.
Better, instead, is when Levy varies her formal structure. “Theory of Dramatic Action,” for instance, introduces a 2nd-person narrator to tell of a lesbian film studies student contemplating an affair with her married—and male—classics professor, while “Theory of the Leisure Class” divides the story into discrete sections, each taking its title from one of Thorstein Veblen’s chapters. These stories offer a more convincing portrait of Levy’s range, because even though Levy’s characters don’t always know what they want to be, it’s as if the more education they come across, the more problems they see.
from Love, in Theory:
For your midterm in screenwriting, you have to outline the dramatic arc of your story and then read this aloud to your classmates so they can criticize you to your face. This, you imagine, is as close as people of your generation will ever come to EST. To the encounter groups that defined the sixties. No wonder people took so many drugs back then. You wish, as you enter class, that you'd had the foresight to get stoned.
In this collection, love takes on many forms—heterosexual, homosexual, bisexual, lesbian—but the infidelity remains constant. Betrayals, of one kind or another are the predominant catalysts for most of the stories, but Levy finds interesting tweaks on the matter. In “Theory of Enlightenment,” Renee finds her boyfriend, Richard, jilting her not for another woman, but for an ashram in upstate New York. (“I feel like a karmic rest stop,” she says.) The problem of getting spiritually dumped recurs, this time with lesbians, in “Theory of Transportation.”
But Love, In Theory goes beyond being a catalog of indignities and unfaithfulness. In almost every story, Levy sneaks in sly, cerebral humor. She’s unafraid of using puns and bons mots as an antidote to the maudlin and bathetic, giving her writing a lightness that doesn’t lessen the heartbreak, but instead lends it a more knowing ache.
The erudition of her characters also offers them a certain perspective on their lives. The married professor in “My Life in Theory,” for example, knows that he shouldn’t fall for a young man, but does so anyway, and though he tries to keep his voice disinterested throughout the story, the emotional cracks start to show.
Indeed, the tone throughout the stories might, at times, seem too homogenous, and one drawback of having a consistent voice and worldview in a collection is that the stories that deviate from that voice tend to stick out. In particular, the decidedly blue-collar orderly who attends the titular “The Three Christs of Moose Lake, Minnesota” feels slightly off. In isolation, the story stands up well; indeed, it was a finalist for the prestigious Nelson Algren Award from the Chicago Tribune. However, juxtaposed against the other stories, the narrator’s constant use of “y’know” and his insistence that he needs to look up certain words and literary allusions comes off as disingenuous.
Luckily, Levy includes some well-needed thematic variations. The half-Korean main character in “Small Bright Thing,” for instance, introduces considerations of race, while “Theory of the Leisure Class” leaves the United States (many of the stories have a Minnesota connection) for the more exotic climes of Costa Rica.
Better, instead, is when Levy varies her formal structure. “Theory of Dramatic Action,” for instance, introduces a 2nd-person narrator to tell of a lesbian film studies student contemplating an affair with her married—and male—classics professor, while “Theory of the Leisure Class” divides the story into discrete sections, each taking its title from one of Thorstein Veblen’s chapters. These stories offer a more convincing portrait of Levy’s range, because even though Levy’s characters don’t always know what they want to be, it’s as if the more education they come across, the more problems they see.
from Love, in Theory:
For your midterm in screenwriting, you have to outline the dramatic arc of your story and then read this aloud to your classmates so they can criticize you to your face. This, you imagine, is as close as people of your generation will ever come to EST. To the encounter groups that defined the sixties. No wonder people took so many drugs back then. You wish, as you enter class, that you'd had the foresight to get stoned.
August 1, 2016
How Love is Lost
Don't open this book expecting happy endings. Of the ten stories in the collection, only one ends in anything much more promising than resigned acceptance. I won't give the name of that one exception, but here is its last sentence:
Many of the stories begin with the recent loss of a lover; a few others end with one. There are often flings with other people along the way, briefly welcome or immediately regretted, but they are never the focus. The prevailing tone is elegiac: an almost pastoral lament for a lost idyll; it is a literary mode that has always attracted me. Most of the characters are around what I presume to be the author's age and situation: well-educated thirty-somethings working as adjunct instructors at a university, or something very similar. But the exceptions (most of which come towards the end of the book) are striking. The protagonist of "The Three Christs of Moss Lake, Minnesota," for example, is an orderly in a mental hospital. Those of "Theory of the Leisure Class" are an older couple on a birding tour of Costa Rica, feeling greatly superior to an obnoxious younger pair, until a glimpse of them on the dance floor suddenly makes them reevaluate the fifty years of their own marriage. Another story, "Gravity," is set at a synagogue wedding in Minneapolis, where family tensions lead to the reevaluation of two other relationships: those of the bride's now-separated parents, and of her gay brother.
Yes, gay. As the design on the cover so wittily suggests, Levy's relationships of love and heartbreak take place between women and men, but also men and men, and women and women. With the exception of one brief scene of graphic bondage, the gender combinations make surprisingly little difference; these are just people like ourselves. But by the same token, I don't think I will be remembering them very long either. Except for one extraordinary story (again, I won't say which it is) that leads you deeper and deeper into a triangle situation until you suddenly realize that the assumption you had made about the gender of one of the characters may well be wrong. It is a marvelous piece of narrative sleight-of-hand that I shall not quickly forget at all.
Don't open this book expecting happy endings. Of the ten stories in the collection, only one ends in anything much more promising than resigned acceptance. I won't give the name of that one exception, but here is its last sentence:
You will be full of hope, will take it on faith that she will be there, waiting for you, with open arms, believing briefly, fervently, though you know it only happens in the movies, that yours will be a Happy Ending.Well, maybe it will; there is always that possibility. The giveaway phrase, though, is "you know it only happens in the movies." Most of E. J. Levy's characters believe that there is little chance of permanent success in the real world, but even the brief periods of contentment are worth much—a fact that stops the book from being entirely depressing; very few of the characters have become cynical.
Many of the stories begin with the recent loss of a lover; a few others end with one. There are often flings with other people along the way, briefly welcome or immediately regretted, but they are never the focus. The prevailing tone is elegiac: an almost pastoral lament for a lost idyll; it is a literary mode that has always attracted me. Most of the characters are around what I presume to be the author's age and situation: well-educated thirty-somethings working as adjunct instructors at a university, or something very similar. But the exceptions (most of which come towards the end of the book) are striking. The protagonist of "The Three Christs of Moss Lake, Minnesota," for example, is an orderly in a mental hospital. Those of "Theory of the Leisure Class" are an older couple on a birding tour of Costa Rica, feeling greatly superior to an obnoxious younger pair, until a glimpse of them on the dance floor suddenly makes them reevaluate the fifty years of their own marriage. Another story, "Gravity," is set at a synagogue wedding in Minneapolis, where family tensions lead to the reevaluation of two other relationships: those of the bride's now-separated parents, and of her gay brother.
Yes, gay. As the design on the cover so wittily suggests, Levy's relationships of love and heartbreak take place between women and men, but also men and men, and women and women. With the exception of one brief scene of graphic bondage, the gender combinations make surprisingly little difference; these are just people like ourselves. But by the same token, I don't think I will be remembering them very long either. Except for one extraordinary story (again, I won't say which it is) that leads you deeper and deeper into a triangle situation until you suddenly realize that the assumption you had made about the gender of one of the characters may well be wrong. It is a marvelous piece of narrative sleight-of-hand that I shall not quickly forget at all.
October 8, 2012
This is my first collection of short stories I've ever had to review, so forgive me if this seems a little clunky...I'm not quite sure how to rate the entire book.
Love, in Theory is composed of ten short stories that deal with all kinds of love: new love, old love, husband and wife, mother and daughter.
Some of the stories were very good, while others were less than enthralling. My favorite was "Small Bright Thing", in which both a mother and daughter must face that the other's life is changing.
The author definitely has a gift for making you feel what the character is feeling, which is pretty cool since the characters across the stories are all so different and so many different emotions are present. He also has a knock for getting inside each person's mind and making them confront things they don't really want to.
I'm not entirely sure short stories are for me, but this offering was rather intriguing and I'm glad I read it. If nothing else, it concretes the idea that love is anything but straightforward.
Love, in Theory is composed of ten short stories that deal with all kinds of love: new love, old love, husband and wife, mother and daughter.
Some of the stories were very good, while others were less than enthralling. My favorite was "Small Bright Thing", in which both a mother and daughter must face that the other's life is changing.
The author definitely has a gift for making you feel what the character is feeling, which is pretty cool since the characters across the stories are all so different and so many different emotions are present. He also has a knock for getting inside each person's mind and making them confront things they don't really want to.
I'm not entirely sure short stories are for me, but this offering was rather intriguing and I'm glad I read it. If nothing else, it concretes the idea that love is anything but straightforward.
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