We review one of the stand-out book releases from the summer of 2021 – Conversations on Love by Natasha Lunn – ahead of its release this week.
Pick up a copy of the book here.
Natasha Lunn’s book Conversations on Love – published this week though Viking in the UK – is an earnest celebration of love in all its forms. It is an unmissable, riveting collection of explorations into love, and is the result of her hugely successful fortnightly email newsletter, interviewing an array of public figures from Candice Carty-Williams to Dolly Alderton, Esther Perel and Roxanne Gay. This is the ultimate post-lockdown read, for those contemplating and re-evaluating relationships, in all their forms, as we slowly come out of the pandemic. This shift will make us more alert to love and the ‘subtle opportunities for love which are woven through our daily lives.’ The book strikes a chord from start to finish – even the dedication ‘For anyone who feels lost in longing.’ I don’t think I’ve ever read a dedication so profound that gets so close to the heart and purpose of the reader, as those lines. Each chapter of the book are perfectly polished jewels that dive into the subtleties and nuance of love in a way that is deeply engaging, and touching without being sentimental. What Lunn accomplishes so masterfully throughout is an ability to show the breadth, depth and variety of the complex emotion we call love. Throughout, Lunn subtly weaves in the development of her own relationship and the mistakes she made when it comes to love throughout her twenties, while avoiding being patronising to those souls who are currently falling prey to the mistakes she made in the past, managing instead to display ‘older sister’ characteristics. Though this main thread involves romantic relationships, the more compelling pages of the book deal with friendships, parents and siblings – their complications, their failures and disappointments and their integral joys.Â
Conversations on Love is a deeply compelling read that feels profound, a call to value every relationship in life with just as much weight and importance as the value with which we hold romantic relationships, even with strangers as Melanie Reid details. Although, importantly it should be noted that the lens of the participants she interviews is narrow – Lunn only interviews two men for the collection and Roxane Gay’s analysis of love is the only one that is not heteronormative – still the breath of love she covers is vast. More than anything, Conversations on Love will leave you with a profound joy and appreciation for love in all its forms and an ability to appreciate every kind of love with as much zeal as the value with which we hold romantic love. Lunn will leave you in love with the very concept of love itself.
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