Story Lover

by Franz Wisner

I found the book pretty interesting and it was fun to see him gradually, almost by accident fall in love with Tracy. There never seemed to be a secret ingredient or even a tipping point, where Franz all of a sudden is in love. You almost wonder, how DO people know they’re in love? I liked how he and Tracy really got to know each other through emails over the course of 6-8 weeks. And perhaps, he’s right, they were only able to fall in love by not being overwhelmed or distracted by the physical or easy aspects of a young relationship. Only through communication, was he able to fall in love with her. That’s kind of the way G and I were, we met, hung out for 2 weeks and then did 1 year of long distance. It was tough, but I think I really knew him at the end of that first year.

My favorite aspect of the book though was learning about all the dating and courting experiences around the world. My only criticism is, can anyone EVER really know and understand a people enough to say that THIS is how they are? I’ve lived in places for years and never really feel confident in knowing a place, a culture, a people. And it was very obvious that these were not objective accounts. But it was all fascinating. I even got a bit of research for our project: New Zealand has the 4th highest chlamydia rates in the world.

“For me, love is if I am happy and you are happy, we can share. But if you are not happy, you can share nothing.”