Everybody enjoys reading a good, heartwarming tale of love, loss, hope and happiness which is exactly what you get with Who Do You Love by Jennifer Weiner. It’s an unforgettable, intimate story which follows Rachel Blum (pronounced bloom) and Andy Landis who meet in a hospital waiting room when they’re eight years old. Rachel grows up in a rich Florida suburb with her Jewish parents, spending her younger years feeling self-conscious after a number of operations to fix the congenital heart defect she was born with. Andy couldn’t have had a more different upbringing, being raised in Philadelphia by his single mum who is always too busy for him but keeps him isolated. After getting in trouble with the police, he takes up running. What starts as a tool to manage his anger becomes his passion, his one real release and what drives him for the rest of his life.
While it may seem like the classic tale of “boy and girl meet and fall in love”, Who Do You Love has so much depth and rawness as the two fall in love time and time again. Rachel and Andy don’t live together until they’re in their 20s but a series of events lead them to break up and pop in and out of each others lives, although neither one of them is ever far from the others thoughts. There are some incredibly shocking plot twists, and a powerful telling of the impact of 9/11 as you join the star-crossed lovers on their 30 year journey (you’re never bored and the years fly by!) The universe puts them in each others paths after Rachel marries someone else and Andy wins big at the Olympics.
Following their entire journey makes it such a page-turner. A big part of the allure is that neither of the characters are perfect. In fact, they’re far from it. They both make mistakes, they both have flaws and they both struggle through turbulent times but it makes them real and human. It’s what connects us, the reader, to Weiner’s characters, making us root for them as we laugh, cry and frantically turn the page to find out what happens next. You’ll be itching to know whether Rachel and Andy end up together. Although love is the main theme throughout, Weiner touches on other important, real themes like race, adultery, poverty, bullying, forgiveness and peer pressure. Her usual humour is present in the tale.
The message? It’s a story of growing up, fate and how meeting someone can change the entire course of your life. It perfectly embodies the phrase “the heart wants what it wants” as the two find themselves pulled together by an undeniable tug that can only be described as being soul mates. Fate continues to bring them together and push them apart but despite their individual accomplishments, there is always something missing. Or someone. You’ll find yourself stuck between being desperate to finish but anxious to savour the story as it captures your heart. As you near the end of the book, you’ll be asking, “Is it true?! Does true love never die?” as the moral of the story is ultimately we can’t choose who we love.
