This stylist debut debut is a love story about Central Park, art and a long marriage. It largely follows the fifty year marriage of Jane and Abe, who frequently walk in the park, observing the people around them. Jane is dying, and the couple reflect on their relationship. Abe, previously a professor at the university, tells her of the student who was in love with him, a story he hasn’t told before. The novel shifts between the perspectives of both characters, as well as a long section following this student’s infatuation, and the couple’s son, Max’s relationship with his parents. The writing is tender and wise, a meditation on language and art at the level of the language as well as plot. I found it a really beautiful, emotive novel.

I had a strong feeling that I would love this book, but I didn't think I would love it so much that it would squeeze the breath out of my lungs and punch me in the gut multiple times. It's books like this one that make me realize how truly grateful I am for literature existing and the humans creating it.

This was... marvelous. Tear-jerking. Equally beautiful and devastating. The writing style made me want to grab a notebook and jot down everything this book has made me feel. The story made me want to hug these characters, take a stroll in Central Park, to look around and appreciate everything and everyone. The author crafted such a beautiful tale of love, art, the joy of living, the inevitability of death, and everything that happens in between. It was hard to keep reading this without taking small breaks. It was draining to see these characters dealing with postpartum depression, missing their late loved ones, trying to find their way back to each other and themselves. Reading about a family trying to continue living despite cancer made me want to puke. And yet. And yet it made me see the beauty in the smallest of things. With characters looking back and remembering both momentous and insignificant moments from their life, it has made me realize how unbelievably quickly time passes, how you cannot rewind back to do things differently, but that all of it still shapes both you and those around you. Even with all of its bad moments, life is still undeniably beautiful and filled with so. much. love. Love bursting through cracks in broken relationships, love pushing against locked doors, love behind every soft touch and encouraging word. Just love finding a way despite everything.

Highly recommend this one, especially if you love Sally Rooney, Alone With You in the Ether by Olivie Blake, experimental writing style, poetry, art, and, of course, love with all of its ups and downs.

This is a Love Story is the story of the relationship between Abe and Jane. They've been married for 50 years, live in New York, and spent much time in Central Park. But now Jane is dying, and they are sharing memories of the life they shared, trying to keep hold of it. Most of the novel is narrated by Abe as he recounts the memories Jane has shared as well as his own. These are short little snippets that begin with "You Remember" or "I remember". This repetition was initially a little grating, but I soon settled in to the rhythm, stopped noticing, and eventually appreciated it for its unique flavour. This is a story of life, love and loss, success and failure, betrayal, and forgiveness. It's a story full of quiet everyday moments and of big highs and lows. Among the lows are cancer and post partum depression, so take care if these are triggers for you. It's also a look at the creative process (he's a writer, she's an artist), how essential that can be to a sense of self, and how that is impacted by and in turns impacts parenthood. It's also a story of New York, Central Park in particular, which is very much a character in this novel. The sections set in Central Park were among my favourites, scratching my armchair traveller itch. I could readily visualise them playing out on the big screen and loved learning more about the Park and imagining myself there. As the novel progressed, we also heard from one of Abe's students and from Jane and Abe's son, Max. I felt their perspectives interrupted the flow of the story - which may have been their point - and could have been omitted with no overall loss. However, they didn't detract from my overall enjoyment. Readers who enjoy quiet, poignant, introspective character based stories, who appreciate a focus on older characters and long-term relationships that survive the inevitable tough times, who are not averse to a distinctive, repetitive narrative style, and who don't need a happy ending, will, like me, find much to enjoy in this novel.

In ‘This is a Love Story’, Abe and Jane look back at their marriage and their memories of it now Jane is unwell. This is interspersed with stories of Central Park, how integral it is to New York City and the other love stories that take place in it. The style of prose used by Soffer is completely propulsive and I found myself reading this very fast whilst the memories and different perspectives whizzed past me. It felt very fresh whilst also being a very authentic love story.

This is a love story about a couple as their days together are running out. It is a love story about art and a love story about Central Park.

Jane and Abe have been together for over fifty years, they have been coming to Central Park all through the decades, when they first met and were full of dreams and hopes and wildly in love. They have walked in the park together all through life, realising their dreams and celebrating huge success in their fields, this success came with sacrifices. The Park has borne witness to their marriage of fifty years and this book is a beautiful exploration of the park and itself and of this marriage.
Jane is dying and together her and Abe are tracing back through their life, remembering their early days together and bringing back to mind the parts of their marriage they didn't want to examine. The novel is told from various points of view, both Jane and Abe's, their son Max who believes his mother chose art over motherhood and from a student of Abes who wanted her own love story. Then there are short chapters interspersed about the park itself. It is a lyrical, fragmented read that weaves itself together to paint one big beautiful story.
I loved how this was written, the style of writing switching with each point of view, the prose is beautiful as is the book.
Jane and Abe have enjoyed huge success creatively and elements of their life are exceptional but it is the universality of a marriage that is captured here that makes this book so special.
Jane's experience of motherhood and her relationship with her son and his with her is the opposite, I found this fascinating to read, sad , realistic and the fact it is far from what would be considered the of motherhood balanced well with the portrait of marriage.
I loved , surprisingly so , the details about Central Park, there is a brief mention of two dogs in particular, which made me stop and pause and try not to cry.

I really loved this and was surprised when I finished reading to see a lot of early reviews for this one are mixed. I am looking forward to finding out what others think of it, its out next week and it's one of the best love stories I have read in a long time.
4.5

Jane and Abe, and Central Park.
Jane is reflecting on their lives.
I found this relatable and poignant, indeed.
Central Park as a merging theme was well used.
Though, I found some of this formulaic and not very fresh in its structure (not content).

I'm sorry, but I don't like this book at all.
Abe and Jane have been married for a long time. Now Jane is terminally ill and Abe is taking care of her. He returns to all sorts of memories, the good and the bad.
"Sometimes, when your eyes are closed, I cover my face. Sometimes, my greatest accomplishment in a day is to not wish desperately to go first."
This sounds like deep, thoughtful literature. Unfortunately, I found it very confusing. That's because of the writing style. Each paragraph starts with either "I remember" or "You remember". This part of the book made me tired. It is a beautiful part, but maybe too long? Maybe my head wasn't in the right space for that kind of writing. The book opens with Central Park being the center of the story and an important place in many people's lives. I read this part with pleasure and interest. I like all sorts of unusual facts about this place.
"[Central Park] is a habitat for wildlife and provides a stopover on the Atlantic Flyway for more than two hundred species of birds." "The North Meadow Butterfly Gardens provide a habitat for more than fifty species of butterflies that pass through." Who knew?
After that, the POVs changed, and I found it too slow, and too confusing, and as a result I quickly lost interest in the story. While I'm sure it's a beautiful story, it's quite hard to read.

An utterly beautiful and poetic read, This is a love story is one to savour. This is an intimate and far-reaching portrait of a marriage set against the evocative (and stunningly written) New York background. This is a tender and unflinching look at a long relationship at the end of life. This one will stay with me for a long long time.

A totally different book to what I expected - episodic, fragmented, atmospheric and compelling. Like reading a book of poetry I think this one will sit with me for a while, come back to me in flashes.

"This is a Love Story" by Jessica Soffer is a different type of book. Full of beautiful words, it is more one long poem in parts than an actual story. You really feel the writer's love for Central Park, New York and the characters. Even though we kind of knew the plot, it was fantastic the way it came from different angles and so the story fell into place.

This is my kinda book. Loved it so much and related to multiple characters. It's well written and engaging.

Completely and utterly adored this one!

Profoundly clever

Perfect for those who enjoy:
- Memory prose
- Beautiful storytelling
- Heart squeezing stories
- Emotional reads

With thanks to Serpent's Tail / Viper / Profile Books | Serpent's Tail and Netgalley for an ARC copy in return for an honest review.

Oh, bit of a heartbreaker this one! It is truly a beautiful, understated love story of a five star quality - I loved it.

Jessica Soffer’s novel is about a long marriage between an artist and a writer, played out against a New York City background. Jane and Abe met in 1967. She'd excelled in every artistic media she worked while Abe became a prize-winning author. Her ambivalence about motherhood resolved itself after a miscarriage but when Max was born, she'd been overwhelmed by an episode of postnatal depression which only re-immersion in her art eased. Max grows into a man, distant from his mother and wary of emotional involvement. Now, in their final days together, no chance of another remission from the cancer first diagnosed when Max was only five, Jane devotes what little energy she has left to recounting her memories of their past to Abe.
I’d been expecting a straightforward continuous narrative but Soffer’s novel is largely made up of a string of episodic vignettes, short paragraphs of Jane’s memories narrated for us by Abe. It’s a style that takes some getting used to. The section narrated by Alice, Abe’s student with whom he had a brief connection which scars his marriage, jarred with me in a way Max’s section didn’t, casting light on his relationship with his parents. That said, the structure and style lends an intimacy to Soffer’s book together with an urgency as Jane becomes more diminished. Her writing is quite beautiful at times, conveying the depth of this relationship between two people, both flawed, deeply enmeshed in each other’s lives, one aware that he will soon be left alone. Interspersed with their story are brief sections devoted to Central Park where Abe and Jane have spent so many hours – another love story of sorts full of characters, nature, performance, celebration and love. Not an easy novel to write about – I don’t feel I’ve entirely done it justice – but it’s one that will stay with me for some time.

Can something be quiet and intimate yet impactful and expansive? Because that’s the best way I can describe this book.

This is a love story, (not a romance), showcasing love in all its beauty, cruelty, and powerful endurance. Abe and Jane are loveable, infuriating, sympathetic, complex, interesting and deeply, deeply human. The portrait Soffer painted of them was beautifully intimate and brutally honest.

Their beloved Central Park is a character unto itself showcasing lyrical, moving vignettes of people that connect with and pass through the park. Not just our characters, but little insights into the park itself and the people, and dogs, that we can observe there on any given day. The little paragraph about Dolly and Diller, the bonded Basset Hounds, was incredibly moving. It’s artful how Soffer can capture observations so succinctly yet give us such a realistic and compelling slice-of-life from different perspectives.

The writing was just… wow. Beautiful, lyrical, emotive. Every word was intentional. The style was artful and varied depending on which perspective we were exploring at the time. Abe’s chapters written in the second person, to Jane, allowed the intimacy and love to shine through. Alice’s chapters enabled us to see Abe from a different perspective. The Park chapters were a beautiful bird’s eye view. The pacing was perfect.

I enjoyed the time I spent with these characters (except Max who I struggled to find any redeeming qualities) and in New York. The sense of people and the sense of place were phenomenal.

I’m not an emotional reader, but, of the 1000+ books I’ve read over my life, this is now the second one that’s made me cry. I’m going to need some time to process this one!

I was privileged to have my request to read this book accepted through NetGalley. Thank you so much, Serpent’s Tail! ✨

Beautiful realistic look and relationships and the trials and tribulations that come with them, but why they are some of the most importantly parts of our lives.