Reviewed by Pat Bean
Posted on: September 16, 2021
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Michele Morano’s memoir Like Love provides readers an exploratory look at what that four-letter L word means from childhood to adulthood. It’s a meandering adventure that takes the reader through the intricacies of relationships that come in many forms, from what happens when a mother leaves a father for another woman to a married kiss and the love of a child.
Written as a collection of essays, Morano’s words penetrate to a reader’s own perceptions of love. Am I one of those women who give too much of myself away in a relationship, you might find yourself asking. Or, why do I put up with a man who loves someone else?
Relationships, even taboo ones, are explored and exposed in depth. There are no love-stricken and cliché Juliets or Romeos lurking among Morano’s characters. One comes away from the book realizing that love can often be messy and incomplete.
Then there’s the love-hate relationship daughters have with their mothers, and how perceptions change. Morano explores this oxymoron as her book continues throughout the span of time. Age brings different perspectives, and these essays brought to the surface the changing emotions I had with my own mother. But I suspect I won’t be the only reader who ends up reexamining mother-daughter issues after reading Like Love.
At the very least, this book will have you rethinking everything you thought you ever knew about relationships. And while at times Morano’s stories tend to explore the darker side of love, reading it is not a downer. In fact, I found it to be the opposite.
Writes Morano: “A really true love story ends not with tears or guilt or reconciliation, but with the simple knowledge that your life is a good one, that despite the constant see-saw of loss and gain, you’re grateful every day to be here.”
I recommend this book to any reader willing to take a closer look at that four-letter word L.O.V.E.
