Tuesday 26 May 2015

It's About Love by Steven Camden

Disclaimer this isn't so much a review as a musing on what this book made me feel and think about. After all, that's what literature is meant to do.


It's About Love  

"Real life is messier than the movies. A bold, thought-provoking novel from the exceptionally talented, Steven Camden.

He's Luke. She's Leia.

Just like in Star Wars. Just like they’re made for each other. Same film studies course, different backgrounds, different ends of town.

Only this isn't a film. This is real life. This is where monsters from the past come back to take revenge. This is where you are sometimes the monster.

But real life? Sometimes, only sometimes, it turns out just like in the movies…

… maybe."



Mini Review


Five stars! This was beautiful, thought provoking and completely different from what I originally thought it was going to be. Although parts of the plot were dramatic and shocking you always felt like it could be a true story. That was such an important aspect of the book because if it didn't feel real it wouldn't be as powerful. This story could have been happening in my local estate which is perhaps why I found it so poignant. Please, please, please read this book you won't regret it.


Thoughts and Musings

I can count on one hand the number of books that after reading them have made me want to put pen to paper and just write. About what I thought, what I agree with, what I disagree with and all thoughts that have been triggered as a result. Therefore, the fact that this book made me want to write says an awful lot about it.

Firstly, I want to talk about some of the marketing and the promotion associated with this book. I loved how creative it was. The author Steven Camden is a spoken word poet I have loved spoken word poetry ever since I was first introduced to it (Thank You Colleen Hoover for your masterpiece Slammed). So Steven wrote a poem introducing his book to his followers and I will link his poem right here: It's About Love- Introductory Poem Please watch it because it is amazing.

So the title. It's About Love. I have never read a truer sentence, and reading this book makes the meaning of that even clearer. Because everything is about love. Every emotion, decision, and action stem from love. Not just Romantic love but love for your family, friends, literature, art, music, maths whatever. Anger, hatred, passion- all are aspects of love. All of these things make us human. Isn't that one of the main points in Lauren Oliver's book Delirium? Without love, we are nothing but shells of human beings. Merely going through day to day life with no purpose or no meaning.

Love is an aspect of the human condition and perhaps the only thing that connects every human being that is or ever was alive. This book demonstrates that so perfectly. There is no pretentious flowery language. No overly complicated plot. You don't need someone to go through it with you to help you understand it. It is accessible which encompasses the message of the book. It doesn't matter if you are a rich kid from the right side of town or someone from the local estate whose brother just got out of jail. Everyone is bound through love.

The journey of self-love that Luke is on in the beginning follows every kind of love imaginable. Despite a few cliches, this was a fantastic book. In fact, it inspired all of these philosophical musings on love and its omnipotent presence etc. Also, I am not one to be this impassioned about love.

Please share your thoughts because I would love to hear your opinion.

Talk to you again :)