Bill Smoot is an American writer with a BA from Purdue University where he was editor of the student newspaper. He received his PhD in philosophy from Northwestern University and taught at Miami University in Ohio until he moved to California where he taught in private schools for four decades. His essays and short fiction have appeared in numerous publications including The Nation, Ohio Review, Literary Review and Salon.com. He is the author of “Conversations with Great Teachers,” a book of interviews with teachers from across the country and currently teaches in the Osher Institute of Lifelong Learning at UC-Berkley and at the Prison University Project at San Quentin Prison. His new book “Love: A Story” is filled with philosophic musings on the nature of love, life and storytelling with the dominant theme being that life is a story and that living is story telling.

In “Love: A Story,” the narrator is a casual observer who narrates and scrutinizes people’s lives and at times address an ‘audience.’ It all begins as Michael, a forty-year old prep schoolteacher in Berkeley, is driving home from school and sees a baby stroller rolling down the street toward him. He slams on the brakes, jumps out of his car and catches the stroller. This might appear like a casual event but for Michael it is symbolic and he sees it as a sign from the universe that his life is headed in the right direction. His wife Leanna is ready to have a baby and now he realizes that he is ready for fatherhood. The story then goes back to how they met when he, a photographer, hires her as a nude model for a photo shoot. Their relationship has its ups and downs, including her volatile temper, Michael’s health scare, their eventual marriage and unfortunate divorce. Even after Leanna leaves him, Michael cannot help but re-examine everything they went through in the hopes of finding meaning in it. The last part suggests that the book that Michael begins to write is the book the reader is reading and the reader is left to wonder whether the action is, in fact, ‘real’ or just ‘a story.’

Part love story, part philosophical musings, “Love: A Story” is mainly one man’s experience with love and the effect it has on his psyche. Both Michael and Leanna are trying to overcome a troubled past, but Michael, still haunted from being unable to help a distressed cow on the family farm, is bound and determined to make Leanna happy, sacrificing his own well-being. At the end she leaves him anyway, so she becomes yet another woman who wronged him. This is why some readers get a misogynistic vibe, but this is Michael’s story (or the author’s?). It is not a “happily-ever after” romance and it admittedly takes a depressing turn when he gets sick, but since the overall theme is stories and the people who experience them, it might inspire readers to tell their own and hopefully learn more about themselves. With easy to follow action and down to earth language, this novel is a page turner. The characters are well-developed, multi-dimensional and relatable because no one is immune to life’s hardships, romantic or otherwise. “Love: A Story” is recommended for fans of philosophy who appreciate love stories yet do not mind when they go awry.

“Nietzsche wrote, ‘Die at the right time.’ Stories reach a point at which they must end.”

*The author received a copy of this book for an honest review. The views and opinions expressed here belong solely to her.