Review: Love & Leftovers

Love & Leftovers


Author: Sarah Tregay

Summary:

Marcie has been dragged away from home for the summer-- from Idaho to a family summerhouse in New Hampshire. She's left behind her friends, a group of freaks and geeks called the Leftovers, including her emo-rocker boyfriend, and her father.   

By the time Labor Day rolls around, Marcie suspects this "summer vacation" has become permanent. She has to start at a new school, and there she leaves behind her Leftover status when a cute boy brings her breakfast and a new romance heats up.

But understanding love, especially when you've watched your parents' affections end, is elusive. What does it feel like, really? Can you even know it until you've lost it?

Published 27 December 2011

*

Okay, normally

No, scratch that

I mean-- almost always

I'm not that into novels in verse.

I mean, I know it's 

Beautiful

Poetic

Lyrical.

But I just can't get into it,

Like a good worn leather-bound copy of Dickens,

Or a glossy covered paperback Legend. 

I know a Greek nanny who once told me about Odysseus,
But who cares,
Let me tell you about Love & Leftovers:


I think a funny thought,
I should review in verse.
Perhaps you may balk, 
But I'm not the first. 


Love & Leftovers by Sarah Tregay,

Warmly surprised me more than I thought. 

Real and heart-wrenching,

A book every conflicted teenager should have bought.

It tells the tale of every girl,

Who ever liked two boys at once.

It can be me or you or perhaps, her,

Looking for another chance. 

Raw emotion shines brightly through

Verses that make you think. 

Never thought that I'd cry,

But my tears were on the brink. 

Of first love and second chances,

How one could feel alone.

She craves every stranger's embrace,

For that little warmth bestowed. 

When distance pulls two hearts apart,

Love is hard to hold on to. 

When absence brings no fondness to the heart,

She is forced again to choose. 

Her father's gay,

Her mother's depressed,

Her family's broken

Beyond repair. 

New house,

New school,

New life,

New friends.

She tried to grasp on to all that she cared. 

But just when it seemed like she could move on,

She had to move back to where she came from. 

It no longer seemed like the place she used to belong. 

What's left of love when there's a gap too large to be filled?

Sometimes when you get a second chance,

Remember what's love.

It's

Healing hearts and giving roses. 

Love

Is always precious.

Don't wait till the door closes,

Until you're already a leftover. 


*


AHHHHH, I'm so proud of myself! I spent loads of time rhyming this string of words, hoping the poem would touch you as deeply as how the book touched me. The book told a real story with raw emotion and truthful confessions that reached me despite the tiny amount of words.

This is my first time reading a novel in verse, and though it's not a compelling classic, I'm glad to say that I liked it very much.

Give it a try. You might be shocked at how similar your life is to Marcie's.


Source: From the library

xoxo,
Sel