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Love And Glory
Boone He was so smart he wrote half the English papers for the freshman class, when he wasn't getting drunk at night and waking up hung over in the morning. To him life was full of promise . . . just the ones it didn't intend to keep.
Jennifer She was the campus golden girl, so rich, so pretty, that every boy wanted to take her out. Except Boone. He wanted to marry her.
John He was tall and blond with blue eyes and a cleft in his chin like Cary Grant's. He didn't have Boone's lively imagination, but he had something Jennifer.
Praise for Love and Glory
“[Robert] Parker writes with economy and precision and wit and passion. . . . Love and Glory [is] one of the best love stories I've ever encountered.” — The Press-Chronicle
“A straightforward, unrelenting, shamelessly romantic novel that's about a two-year obsession. . . . It works . . . [and] love stories that work are almost an extinct breed. Almost.” — Santa Cruz Sentinel
“Parker's writing is like fine architecture or music—it's both intricate and direct. There are no false notes.” — Chicago Sun-Times
Jennifer She was the campus golden girl, so rich, so pretty, that every boy wanted to take her out. Except Boone. He wanted to marry her.
John He was tall and blond with blue eyes and a cleft in his chin like Cary Grant's. He didn't have Boone's lively imagination, but he had something Jennifer.
Praise for Love and Glory
“[Robert] Parker writes with economy and precision and wit and passion. . . . Love and Glory [is] one of the best love stories I've ever encountered.” — The Press-Chronicle
“A straightforward, unrelenting, shamelessly romantic novel that's about a two-year obsession. . . . It works . . . [and] love stories that work are almost an extinct breed. Almost.” — Santa Cruz Sentinel
“Parker's writing is like fine architecture or music—it's both intricate and direct. There are no false notes.” — Chicago Sun-Times
224 pages, Mass Market Paperback
First published September 1, 1983
136 people are currently reading
394 people want to read
About the author
Robert B. Parker
489 books2,296 followersLibrarian Note: There is more than one author in the Goodreads database named Robert B. Parker.
Robert Brown Parker was an American writer, primarily of fiction within the mystery/detective genre. His most famous works were the 40 novels written about the fictional private detective Spenser. ABC television network developed the television series Spenser: For Hire based on the character in the mid-1980s; a series of TV movies was also produced based on the character. His works incorporate encyclopedic knowledge of the Boston metropolitan area. The Spenser novels have been cited as reviving and changing the detective genre by critics and bestselling authors including Robert Crais, Harlan Coben, and Dennis Lehane.
Parker also wrote nine novels featuring the fictional character Jesse Stone, a Los Angeles police officer who moves to a small New England town; six novels with the fictional character Sunny Randall, a female private investigator; and four Westerns starring the duo Virgil Cole and Everett Hitch. The first was Appaloosa, made into a film starring Ed Harris and Viggo Mortensen.
Robert Brown Parker was an American writer, primarily of fiction within the mystery/detective genre. His most famous works were the 40 novels written about the fictional private detective Spenser. ABC television network developed the television series Spenser: For Hire based on the character in the mid-1980s; a series of TV movies was also produced based on the character. His works incorporate encyclopedic knowledge of the Boston metropolitan area. The Spenser novels have been cited as reviving and changing the detective genre by critics and bestselling authors including Robert Crais, Harlan Coben, and Dennis Lehane.
Parker also wrote nine novels featuring the fictional character Jesse Stone, a Los Angeles police officer who moves to a small New England town; six novels with the fictional character Sunny Randall, a female private investigator; and four Westerns starring the duo Virgil Cole and Everett Hitch. The first was Appaloosa, made into a film starring Ed Harris and Viggo Mortensen.
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 63 reviews
November 19, 2007
My favorite book of all time.
Given to me by a high school boyfriend (who is actually now a professional writer himself.)
Robert B. Parker is more well-known for the Spenser detective novels, this love story is different from his usual stuff.
Given to me by a high school boyfriend (who is actually now a professional writer himself.)
Robert B. Parker is more well-known for the Spenser detective novels, this love story is different from his usual stuff.
August 13, 2007
From the opening paragraph - one of the most expressively written first paragraphs in one of the most haunting love stories in modern literature - to the satisfying ending, Robert B. Parker's one diversion from his usual detective theme embodies all that I admire and relate to in a love story. It is spare in its prose, clear in its acknowledgment of profound differences between the two principle characters, and accurate in describing the terrifying process of self-discovery and honesty that shared love requires.
Beginning in 2003, I have read it several times a year to remind myself of what love requires of the lover.
Beginning in 2003, I have read it several times a year to remind myself of what love requires of the lover.
January 5, 2016
This guy--they call him Boonie--falls totally in love with this girl in college in Boston, but when he goes to the Korean war, he loses her. He drifts across the country from job to job, getting drunk, and hits rock bottom in L.A. Two things turn him around: the thought of her, and a quote from F. Scott Fitzgerald. Boonie gets his life back together and heads back to Boston.
I found this while weeding the fiction collection; I read the description and of course grabbed it: 1950s, boy-meets-girl, boy-loses-girl, tries-to-get-her-back love story. Robert B. Parker is known for his detective novels (Spenser For Hire), which I've never read.
Read-a-likes: The Fires of Spring by James A. Michener; The Coldest Night by Robert Olmstead; The Beautiful and Damned by F. Scott Fitzgerald.
I found this while weeding the fiction collection; I read the description and of course grabbed it: 1950s, boy-meets-girl, boy-loses-girl, tries-to-get-her-back love story. Robert B. Parker is known for his detective novels (Spenser For Hire), which I've never read.
Read-a-likes: The Fires of Spring by James A. Michener; The Coldest Night by Robert Olmstead; The Beautiful and Damned by F. Scott Fitzgerald.
September 30, 2007
A great 'guys version' of a love story. By the man who bought us Spencer for Hire.
September 10, 2016
Such a pleasure to read a Robert B. Parker book that I hadn't read before... I miss him so very much ~ Rest in Peace & Thank You for all the books you left for us.
November 23, 2015
Love and Glory by Robert B. Parker (Eagle Large Print 1983) (Fiction). Yes, this romance novel was in fact written by Robert B. Parker of "Spenser" fame. This is not at all in the Spenser line of novels. This is a stand-alone story and is very much reminiscent of his later tale All Our Yesterdays. I love Parker's style, but not this book. This is a sad, sad tale - not so much the story as the moral.
Here's the book in a nutshell (SPOILERS AHEAD): boy meets girl, they fall in love, he goes off to war, she falls in love with another, marries, and leaves boy behind. Boy's life goes in the dumper, but boy continues to carry a torch for the girl. Boy hits bottom, has a catharis, and pulls himself up by his bootstraps. Why? So boy will deserve the girl. Ten years after being dumped, boy carries his torch across country still in pursuit of girl. Boy finds girl (now both a wife and mother), and reestablishes contact. Boy and girl become friends, then coworkers, then confidants. After twenty years apart, girl recognizes boy as soulmate. Girl divorces husband and child to be with boy "because they complete each other."
Yech. I hope that is not the history or the ethical perspective of the author showing through, and I certainly hope that's not the actual story arc of either Spenser and Susan (Spenser book characters) or of Parker and his wife Joan, to whom Love and Glory is dedicated.
This one left a bad taste in my mouth. I wish that I had left it on the shelf. My rating: 5/10, finished 5/29/13.
Here's the book in a nutshell (SPOILERS AHEAD): boy meets girl, they fall in love, he goes off to war, she falls in love with another, marries, and leaves boy behind. Boy's life goes in the dumper, but boy continues to carry a torch for the girl. Boy hits bottom, has a catharis, and pulls himself up by his bootstraps. Why? So boy will deserve the girl. Ten years after being dumped, boy carries his torch across country still in pursuit of girl. Boy finds girl (now both a wife and mother), and reestablishes contact. Boy and girl become friends, then coworkers, then confidants. After twenty years apart, girl recognizes boy as soulmate. Girl divorces husband and child to be with boy "because they complete each other."
Yech. I hope that is not the history or the ethical perspective of the author showing through, and I certainly hope that's not the actual story arc of either Spenser and Susan (Spenser book characters) or of Parker and his wife Joan, to whom Love and Glory is dedicated.
This one left a bad taste in my mouth. I wish that I had left it on the shelf. My rating: 5/10, finished 5/29/13.
August 18, 2019
This is the most romantic book I’ve ever read (that wasn’t an actual piece of trash.)
July 5, 2024
I found this book in my cousin's old bookshelf and thought it would be a cute romance novel to get through Thanksgiving break. It’s a nice easy read to get done in one setting, but it was just weird how the main character became obsessed with a girl who didn’t necessarily give him the time of day, and how he became homeless, the book is a bit blurred in my mind. But I still enjoyed it oddly enough, as I’d say I’m on the younger side of readers of this book. I’d recommend this book to a lot of people but you don’t see it in libraries to begin with. My copy is quite damaged but I would love to reread sometime soon.
March 15, 2015
I thought the storyline was good but very poorly written. It lacked depth and emotion and got really boring throughout the middle. I gave it 2 stars because it somehow managed to keep me interested, though im not sure why. Maybe I was hoping it would improve. I was surprised to see the high rating for this book, but im sorry to say I wouldnt recommend it at all.
October 6, 2010
A love story, written from the guy's perspective, which is a nice change. An easy read, simply but intelligently written, and rather lovely. Recommend it. Apparently the author writes a series of detective novels. Might hunt them out after reading this.
November 29, 2016
Not your usual Robert Parker. Much more intense and hardly superficial. What it's like to be so obsessed with the one you love that it impacts your entire existence.
February 7, 2024
punctuation marks:
p16: "...Booner, you are a hot shit, I'll give you that So did Schlossie kick you out?"
p27: She had slid her coat back off her shoulders and her sweater was tight Her hair was lighter than her sister's and she wore it shoulder length.
p43: It was early Friday night No one else was parked there.
p77: It was hot and I didn't show up the third night Instead I took a six-pack and sat in the gravel slope beneath an underpass off Elm Street and blanked my mind the way I did and felt the beer seep into me.
p91: I put my extra pants and shirt in on top of them, and my shaving stuff and toothbrush wrapped in aluminum foil Then I read The Big Sleep until bedtime.
p97: I learned enough about fist fighting to go three rounds with Roy without getting badly hurt Though I always wore the headgear and Roy never really aired it out I was able to drink three or four beers a night and stop.
p99: "I have always known that It's okay." She leaned back and her thighs relaxed and her mouth opened slightly She slid her hands up my back and pulled my head down toward her.
p106: "Ill be happy to tell you," I said.
p107: "...Ill meet you out front...."
p137: The phrase moved through the crowd like the domino effect Link arms.
p141: "...I've learned that my definitions, my rules, my certainties, are not universal, that my feeling something strongly doesn't make it right You are good, and when you do things that I wouldn't do, they can't be bad...."
le mot juste:
p77. I was on my fourth beer of that six-pack when a man scrambled over the guard rail above and stumbled down the side of the overpass and started to take a leak with his forehead pressed against the cement and his feet backed off and braced to keep himself steady.
p80: I was lying in a cement floor against a cinder block wall in the corner of a room with ten or twelve other men in it.
ocr:
p118: She let some smoke out, pushing her lower Up forward a little so that the smoke drifted up across her face before it thinned.
p126: "NobodyhkesmethecraollewilKalm willcomebabycradleandall."
Definitely not my cup of tea.
p16: "...Booner, you are a hot shit, I'll give you that So did Schlossie kick you out?"
p27: She had slid her coat back off her shoulders and her sweater was tight Her hair was lighter than her sister's and she wore it shoulder length.
p43: It was early Friday night No one else was parked there.
p77: It was hot and I didn't show up the third night Instead I took a six-pack and sat in the gravel slope beneath an underpass off Elm Street and blanked my mind the way I did and felt the beer seep into me.
p91: I put my extra pants and shirt in on top of them, and my shaving stuff and toothbrush wrapped in aluminum foil Then I read The Big Sleep until bedtime.
p97: I learned enough about fist fighting to go three rounds with Roy without getting badly hurt Though I always wore the headgear and Roy never really aired it out I was able to drink three or four beers a night and stop.
p99: "I have always known that It's okay." She leaned back and her thighs relaxed and her mouth opened slightly She slid her hands up my back and pulled my head down toward her.
p106: "Ill be happy to tell you," I said.
p107: "...Ill meet you out front...."
p137: The phrase moved through the crowd like the domino effect Link arms.
p141: "...I've learned that my definitions, my rules, my certainties, are not universal, that my feeling something strongly doesn't make it right You are good, and when you do things that I wouldn't do, they can't be bad...."
le mot juste:
p77. I was on my fourth beer of that six-pack when a man scrambled over the guard rail above and stumbled down the side of the overpass and started to take a leak with his forehead pressed against the cement and his feet backed off and braced to keep himself steady.
p80: I was lying in a cement floor against a cinder block wall in the corner of a room with ten or twelve other men in it.
ocr:
p118: She let some smoke out, pushing her lower Up forward a little so that the smoke drifted up across her face before it thinned.
p126: "NobodyhkesmethecraollewilKalm willcomebabycradleandall."
Definitely not my cup of tea.
December 18, 2018
I picked this up from the giveaway stand at the library and didn't know anything beforehand about Parker or his famous(ish) Spenser detective character. All I knew (from the back flap) was that he looked kind of like a seventies detective, stocky and mustachioed. It was mildly enjoyable but the ending killed it for me. A few things that struck me:
1. The whole thing is rather Beat in its solitary, philosophical quest. I picture Boone in a beret and striped shirt, even though I know definitely that's not what he wore (see #3).
2. Either Colby is a way worse college than I thought, or education in the fifties was a joke. Boone has to explain Marvell's "To His Coy Mistress" to his friends, and the students all goof off in class and don't want to answer questions. Is this high school or college? But I looked it up, and Parker actually went to Colby, so maybe people have gotten smarter since then? I'm skeptical but we'll take what we can get.
3. Parker is really into clothes. It's been a while since I've read a book that describes dress in this much detail, and I don't know that I've ever read one by a man that does. I even learned some vocab: rep tie.
4. Wow, creepy stalker ending. I don't see how that (a) was his grand plan and (b) worked. What's going to happen to the kid?
1. The whole thing is rather Beat in its solitary, philosophical quest. I picture Boone in a beret and striped shirt, even though I know definitely that's not what he wore (see #3).
2. Either Colby is a way worse college than I thought, or education in the fifties was a joke. Boone has to explain Marvell's "To His Coy Mistress" to his friends, and the students all goof off in class and don't want to answer questions. Is this high school or college? But I looked it up, and Parker actually went to Colby, so maybe people have gotten smarter since then? I'm skeptical but we'll take what we can get.
3. Parker is really into clothes. It's been a while since I've read a book that describes dress in this much detail, and I don't know that I've ever read one by a man that does. I even learned some vocab: rep tie.
4. Wow, creepy stalker ending. I don't see how that (a) was his grand plan and (b) worked. What's going to happen to the kid?
July 11, 2023
Robert B. Parker is certainly the most efficient writer I know of, and perhaps the most agile. Well-known for his Spenser series, the Sunny Randall and Jesse Stone series, he also wrote the Cole and Hitch westerns, a trio of YA novels, and believe it or not, a romance, Love and Glory.
Boone Adams meets Jennifer Grayle at his first college dance in the fall of 1950. He falls in love with her and becomes obsessed with her. That obsession almost destroys him, but in the end it saves him.
Parker chronicles 25 years in 206 pages, but you never feel shorted or slighted. He's able to get more characterization into fewer pages than other writers are able to do in twice the page count. As always, his chapers are short--four to six pages, with the ocassional chapter going to twelve pages. He's wise, funny, irreverant, despairing, and always with crisp, clean dialogue.
I do have a few quibbles with this title. That language here, is stronger, with 10 times the f-bombs than is usually found in his Spenser novels. That was a big surprise. Second while it may have a happy ending, does that ending come at the expense of other lives being thrown into chaos?
But it is a compelling read, nonetheless.
Boone Adams meets Jennifer Grayle at his first college dance in the fall of 1950. He falls in love with her and becomes obsessed with her. That obsession almost destroys him, but in the end it saves him.
Parker chronicles 25 years in 206 pages, but you never feel shorted or slighted. He's able to get more characterization into fewer pages than other writers are able to do in twice the page count. As always, his chapers are short--four to six pages, with the ocassional chapter going to twelve pages. He's wise, funny, irreverant, despairing, and always with crisp, clean dialogue.
I do have a few quibbles with this title. That language here, is stronger, with 10 times the f-bombs than is usually found in his Spenser novels. That was a big surprise. Second while it may have a happy ending, does that ending come at the expense of other lives being thrown into chaos?
But it is a compelling read, nonetheless.
August 30, 2017
This was one of my rereads for research. I have mixed feelings about this one. On the one hand, Love and Glory contains some of Parker's most beautiful writing. There are passages of absolutely beautiful prose. On the other, Jennifer is not a fully realized character. She exists as a kind of projection for the reader through the eyes of Boone Adams. The book is a stark portrait of how a love can define a lifetime. It may also be read as a cautionary tale about growing up, and the need to learn the difference between obsession and love. Both beautifully lyrical and occasionally frustrating, the book is nevertheless recommended.
August 5, 2023
finished 5th august 2023 good read three stars i liked it kindle library loaner love and glory a kind of early spenser jesse stone story in that there is the same type of male lead with the same type of female lead and two are never to be together. boone's story follows him form high school through the korean war to down and out on the streets of l.a. where he beings a kind of reawakening lazarus type rise from the ashes to a quick return trip to boston where he enrolls at taft to continue his attempt to claim his prize. after a fashion. an entertaining read. add it to the l.g.b.t. file liquor girls booze bullets and tits. hallelujah, let us all swoon away to the ground.
March 26, 2020
As always, I love Robert B. Parker's writing style. Here he deftly created a character that is self-centered, arrogant, obsessed, broken and hard to like. (*spoiler alert) My issue with the book is the happily-ever-after ending. To me, the main character seemed like the lead in a horror thriller, not a romance novel. I didn't want happily-ever-after for this guy unless he finally let go of his obsession with this woman. Or if he was going to get the girl in the end, let see what that really looks like. Let's see the pain he causes. Let's see the messy.
April 10, 2023
Six-word Review: Unbelievable, overly long, pretentious love story.
I'm glad Parker stuck to Spenser and the other characters in his crime stories and did not try to write more love stories.
The essence of my opinion is contained in the six-word review above. I had a hard time hanging in there to finish it and only did so by scanning paragraphs rather than reading them in depth.
It was just too much philosophizing and self-referential B.S. I love all his crime story books but this one sucked.
I'm glad Parker stuck to Spenser and the other characters in his crime stories and did not try to write more love stories.
The essence of my opinion is contained in the six-word review above. I had a hard time hanging in there to finish it and only did so by scanning paragraphs rather than reading them in depth.
It was just too much philosophizing and self-referential B.S. I love all his crime story books but this one sucked.
October 22, 2019
Melodramatic but nevertheless brimming with emotion. Love and Glory is, essentially, a paean to Parker's wife Joan. The book is rather personal in that sense; readers are afforded a glimpse of Parker's romantic character. Love and Glory read dated upon publication and even more so now. Keep your expectations low, i,e, don't expect a masterful exercise in characterization and theme, and this book can be a diverting read.
March 11, 2024
I expected a Spenser-type mystery but was surprised to find an emotional outpouring from a Spenser-type protagonist who captured me from the beginning.
In fact Boonie has some of Spenser’s own commitment which makes the tale even more compelling.
Boiled down to the basics, it’s a love story about love, what it can be and maybe even what it should be and how a person can rise with it and beyond it.
Worth reading.
In fact Boonie has some of Spenser’s own commitment which makes the tale even more compelling.
Boiled down to the basics, it’s a love story about love, what it can be and maybe even what it should be and how a person can rise with it and beyond it.
Worth reading.
July 26, 2019
Older stand-alone Robert B. Parker outside his usual detective genre...He gives us one of the most basic and oldest plots. It simply goes: boy meets girl, boy loses girl, boy finds girl again...However, this is done by one of best pop fiction writers of all time...beautiful, expressive, evocative...I'm glad I found out I missed this one...Great Read!!!
May 26, 2022
Read it many times, first time many years ago... and it's always haunted me, always stayed with me. It's a love story, sure, but it's also a mystery... said mystery being, will he ever deserve the love of his life?
Highly recommend.
Highly recommend.
October 21, 2022
Based on the description, didn’t think this would be the type of book that I Would enjoy. But I did. Well worth the time. I like this authors writing. Third book I’ve read by him. He’s quite prolific so I’ll have plenty of reads to keep me busy. Libby.
December 23, 2025
A struggle to find one’s self
Like many others I’ve been up and down and out and up again. It’s a pleasure to read a novel that relates to the agony and (sometimes ecstasy) of our existence. The book ended on a high note with a feeling I share. Very well written.
Like many others I’ve been up and down and out and up again. It’s a pleasure to read a novel that relates to the agony and (sometimes ecstasy) of our existence. The book ended on a high note with a feeling I share. Very well written.
November 6, 2019
An unrealistic attempt at a romance novel.
February 7, 2020
Quite a different Parker book - just a simple love story.
May 6, 2020
This book surprised me. It focuses on two people growing up together and apart.
December 16, 2020
Not good - do not like this author
August 10, 2021
A short love story. Not what you think of with Robert Parker. It shows another side but his way with a story shines through.
December 27, 2021
Found this tucked away in one of my shelves. The late genius Robert B. Parker. A departure from his Spencer series, this novel was quite enthralling. Truly enjoyed this.
Displaying 1 - 30 of 63 reviews