- Paperback: 320 pages
- Publisher: Jonathan Cape Ltd; First Edition edition (15 Jan 1998)
- Language English
- ISBN-10: 0224050257
- ISBN-13: 978-0224050258
- Product Dimensions: 21.1 x 13.4 x 2.7 cm
- Average Customer Review: 4.0 out of 5 stars See all reviews (1 customer review)
- Amazon Bestsellers Rank: 1,768,305 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
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Product Description
Amazon.co.uk Review
Lafayette Proulx is affectionately called Laf by his friends, and with good reason. As the likeable narrator of John Dufresne's terrific new book Love Warps the Mind a Little, Laf has an eye for the comic elements that can be found in the everyday events of life, and an armchair philosopher's sense of detached bemusement. Laf quits his day job and decides to pursue his dream of writing fiction, a move precipitated by the break-up of his marriage and followed by a torrent of rejection slips. He moves in with his hesitant girlfriend Judi, and, for a time, the story sets into a domestic story of befuddled affection and incidental affairs. Then Judi is diagnosed with ovarian cancer, and from this point Love Warps the Mind a Little becomes a stunning love story, sweetly moving in its description of love amid tragic circumstances. Its honesty and insight are wonderful, and the comic elements are never lost. The acclaimed author of Louisiana Power & Light has met the high expectations of his critics and readers alike with this wonderful novel.
--This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.
Review
Lafayette Prolux leaves his job, leaves his wife and heads for his mistress with his omnivouous dog. Then things get complicated for the aspiring writer. His mistress's dysfunctional family and their partners he takes in his stride, but the rejection letters take some getting over, as does her illness. This highly accomplished saga of love and loss explores the seedier side of American life, initially as a knockabout farce and later as a tragedy with an optimistic outlook. (Kirkus UK)
The ever-colorful, mercurial Dufresne follows his acclaimed debut novel, Louisianan Power and Light (1994), with a finely balanced tale about how love's baffling turns both complicate and enrich the midlife of a struggling writer. Lafayette (Laf) Proulx gives up teaching high school in Worcester, Massachusetts, to write, a breach of security for which his milquetoast wife Martha never forgives him - so he leaves her, too, taking his dog with him. Moving in with Judi, a therapist he'd already been having an affair with, he discovers with a shock that he was more welcome as a married man, but he sets up his typewriter and bangs away anyway, ignoring Judi's ambivalence and making the best of the steady stream of rejection slips he receives from literary magazines. He takes an interest in Judi's stories of her past incarnations, and in her pill-popping, trailer-trash family, even when a sister's slaughterhouse boyfriend murders her ex-con husband. The storytelling possibilities of his new life, however, are suddenly arrested, first when he develops writer's block, then when Judi is diagnosed with uterine cancer. As a hysterectomy followed by chemotherapy fails to halt the cancer's spread, Laf helplessly watches his lover waste away before he and she had really had a chance to give their relationship a solid footing. A New Age therapist gives Judi a clearer understanding of her connection to Laf through the centuries, helping her to reconcile herself to her imminent death. Through pain and revelation, Laf stands by her, giving selflessly, and when she's gone, he discovers that he's gained something vital in return. Strong, quirky characters coping honestly with life's misfortune make this a quiet success. Dufresne has written a funny, profoundly accomplished saga of love and loss. (Kirkus Reviews)
The ever-colorful, mercurial Dufresne follows his acclaimed debut novel, Louisianan Power and Light (1994), with a finely balanced tale about how love's baffling turns both complicate and enrich the midlife of a struggling writer. Lafayette (Laf) Proulx gives up teaching high school in Worcester, Massachusetts, to write, a breach of security for which his milquetoast wife Martha never forgives him - so he leaves her, too, taking his dog with him. Moving in with Judi, a therapist he'd already been having an affair with, he discovers with a shock that he was more welcome as a married man, but he sets up his typewriter and bangs away anyway, ignoring Judi's ambivalence and making the best of the steady stream of rejection slips he receives from literary magazines. He takes an interest in Judi's stories of her past incarnations, and in her pill-popping, trailer-trash family, even when a sister's slaughterhouse boyfriend murders her ex-con husband. The storytelling possibilities of his new life, however, are suddenly arrested, first when he develops writer's block, then when Judi is diagnosed with uterine cancer. As a hysterectomy followed by chemotherapy fails to halt the cancer's spread, Laf helplessly watches his lover waste away before he and she had really had a chance to give their relationship a solid footing. A New Age therapist gives Judi a clearer understanding of her connection to Laf through the centuries, helping her to reconcile herself to her imminent death. Through pain and revelation, Laf stands by her, giving selflessly, and when she's gone, he discovers that he's gained something vital in return. Strong, quirky characters coping honestly with life's misfortune make this a quiet success. Dufresne has written a funny, profoundly accomplished saga of love and loss. (Kirkus Reviews)
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First Sentence
THE DAY I FINISHED MY BEST STORY YET-ABOUT A social WORKER WHOSE CHILD gets Lyme disease, slips into a coma, suffers brain damage, becomes a burden to his father-after I typed it, retyped it, and mailed it off to the Timber Wolf Review, my wife, Martha, came home from work and, just like that, asked me to leave our apartment forever. Read the first page
Front Cover | Copyright | Excerpt | Back Cover
THE DAY I FINISHED MY BEST STORY YET-ABOUT A social WORKER WHOSE CHILD gets Lyme disease, slips into a coma, suffers brain damage, becomes a burden to his father-after I typed it, retyped it, and mailed it off to the Timber Wolf Review, my wife, Martha, came home from work and, just like that, asked me to leave our apartment forever. Read the first page
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Most Helpful Customer Reviews
2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
Unexpectedly tender,
By
This review is from: Love Warps the Mind a Little (Hardcover)
Chancing upon this book, and feeling initially slightly irritated by its title, I was amazed to discover in it a tender and very worthwhile read. The narrator Laf is also a (financially unsuccessful) writer of stories, and he weaves stories about his characters' lives in amongst the story of his own life. Although he professes to be more interested in his characters' lives than in his family and friends around him (it begins with the break-up of his marriage; his father is dying), it becomes clear that he can perform a very useful job in his real life when it comes to the illness of his new lover Judy. The book offers sometimes unbelievable pictures of "trailer park" America, and at the same time portrays what seems like very real suffering and illness. Get past the title and you will find an important story about life, love and writing.
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Most Helpful Customer Reviews on Amazon.com (beta) Amazon.com:
4.4 out of 5 stars (22 customer reviews) 11 of 11 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
This Book is NOT Full of Joy,
By JD Cetola - Published on Amazon.com
This review is from: Love Warps the Mind a Little (Mass Market Paperback)
If you're looking for a book to lift your spirits and set your heart soaring, "Love Warps the Mind A Little" is not the book you're looking for. Dufresne's novel tells the story of Laf Proulx, a man who has quit his regular job (he is an aspiring writer) and left his wife (or more accurately been thrown out for his indescretions with another woman). More accurately, perhaps, this novel tells the moving story of the other woman -- Judi Dubey. Not long after Laf moves in with Judi, she discovers she has Term IV cancer and the majority of the novel deals with the wrenching, painful reality of her disease and poignently describes how she (and to a lesser extent those around her) deals with the disease.This is a powerful novel with some lightness early on as Laf tries to figure out what to do with his life and whether or not he loves Judi or the wife he left (the only sure thing is his love for his dog Spot). Once Judi's cancer is diagnosed the novel moves quickly and despondently toward its conclusion. Judi's suffering through chemotherapy and desire to live are documented in such a way that the reader actually feels involved (albeit miserable) with the characters in this story (most of whom are fairly quirky). There's some talk of life after death, reincarnation (Judi believes she's led several lives), hope for an afterlife and salvation, but the narrator (Laf is apparently an agnostic) offers little encouragement for these ideas thus adding to the weight of dread ensconcing the reader as this book lunges toward its end. Overall, this is more a well told story of a woman's bout with cancer and those who surround her than a story about love and its trials. It's not uplifting, but it is thought provoking and poignent. Recommended. 7 of 7 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Wonderful, poignant and real,
By A Customer - Published on Amazon.com
This review is from: Love Warps the Mind a Little (Hardcover)
A believable and very loving story about how love is born, and how it really impacts us in the least expected way. The confrontation with death and the loneliness of life make heroes of the main characters - Judy in her absolute courage, and Laf, in his ability to grow up.
9 of 10 people found the following review helpful:
3.0 out of 5 stars
My feelings about this book were mixed.,
By b.schulz@worldnet.att.net or Barbara Schulz - Published on Amazon.com
This review is from: Love Warps the Mind a Little (Mass Market Paperback)
When he sticks to the heart of his touching story about death, caretakers, and searching for love, Dufresne's book is powerful. Unfortunately, his "story within a story" about Laf's unpublished novella concerning Dale and Theresa is boring and adds nothing to the book; I kept wishing he'd just get back to the main story line. The best parts of this up-and-down novel are the insights into the pain and suffering a cancer patient must endure; Defresne handles the age-old dilemma of whether the "cure" is worse than the disease itself with unusual insight and compassion.It's a shame that he marred this insightful story with his ramblings about Laf's unpublished (and rightfully so) works-in-progress.
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