Amir and Jamila may be lovers, but aren´t in love. Education, money, age, social status separate them. They are in a situationship and the shards of their stories are shared in a monologue unfolding over months, into short installments that are touching upon topics beyond their dating. She used to live abroad, they are now in the same place, probably Lebanon, or maybe Jordan.
The Lovers by Australian-based author Yumna Kassab has a dual construction, with the two lovers mostly antithetically exploring their thoughts and feelings. There are some circumstances when it is relatively hard to identitfy at first who is talking, and their thoughts may be completely separated from the love story, adding humanity and context to the characters.
The Lovers is a relatively short read. Sometimes it shares something very interesting about love and relationships, but the thought is abandoned shortly after for taking a different turn. The short format is limitative in this respect and I wished it had more literary space to explain and extend the thoughts,
A special note for the Art Nouveau-style of the cover.
Rating: 3.5 stars
Disclaimer: Book offered by the publisher in exchange for an honest review
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