As a young woman boxes up her ex-boyfriend's belongings and prepares to see him one last time, she wonders where it all went wrong, and whether it was ever right to begin with. Burdened with a broken heart, she asks herself the age-old question . . . is love really worth it?Out of Love is a bittersweet romance told in reverse. Beginning at the end of a relationship, each chapter takes us further back in time, weaving together an already unravelled tapestry, from tragic break-up to magical first kiss. In this dazzling debut Hazel Hayes performs a post-mortem on love, tenderly but unapologetically exploring every angle, from the heights of joy to the depths of grief, and all the madness and mundanity in between. This is a modern story with the heart of a classic: truthful, tragic and ultimately full of hope.
Out Of Love by Hazel Hayes is published on 11 June 2020 by Unbound
I'm delighted to welcome guest reviewer Louise Wykes to Random Things today, sharing her review of the book for the #RandomThingsTours Blog Tour.You can find Louise on Twitter @jaustenrulesok
Louise's review of Out Of Love
Out of Love by Hazel Hayes was published in paperback on 11th June 2020 by Unbound. I would like to thank the publisher for sending me a copy to review and Anne Cater for agreeing to host my review on her blog.
After reading a comment from Matt Haig (one of my most favourite writers whose work I can credit with actually saving my life when I was going through a hard time personally) that he loved this book I knew I wanted to read it. I can honestly say I’m so glad I did because like Matt’s writing, this book explores complex human emotions and relationships in a touching, honest and beautiful way.
I loved the structure of this book and never read one like it. Here you’ll find out how a relationship ends right in the first chapter. Then, each successive chapter goes back in time to different episodes that highlight how and possibly why the relationship between Theo and the narrator (I could be wrong but I don’t think the narrator is ever named – although this doesn’t matter because of how vividly the narrator’s inner life and thoughts are portrayed, the reader feels a close and personal connection to them) eventually breaks down and ends.
I understand that Out of Love is the author’s first novel, though she is primarily a screenwriter and I can see how this helps create the novel because each chapter is like an episode of a series that you just have to binge watch because one chapter leaves you longing for another.
This is a very intense novel that deals with various and complex issues especially those surrounding mental health, suicide, abusive relationships, sexuality and the honesty with which these are written are just so engrossing and fascinating. The author made me do something which I never do with a book, she made me fold down the corners of a page (shock, horror!) because there were lines in there so beautiful and powerful I wanted to remember them, or there were issues highlighted (especially the psychological studies) that I wanted to research for myself. I’ve made this sound like its an “issue” book but it’s not just that, there’s humour and life and strength in these pages that I feel would speak to a lot of readers.
I would encourage everyone to read this book if you can. It will make you smile, will make you think, will make you cry and make you believe that although there might not be happy ever afters in life but there can be plenty of happy in each moments. A wonderful, beautiful read and I’m hoping that the author may be thinking of what happened in Theo’s story as I would certainly be interested in that!
Twitter @TheHazelHayes
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