Review: Talking at Night (by Claire Daverly)

My Rating:  4.5 stars

One thing I wanted to establish right off the bat:  this is one of those books that is hard to place into any one genre, since it's technically a mix of several, however I would strongly caution against classifying it as a typical "romance" novel.  Sure, there's a "love story" at the core of this one, with a main "couple" that it's pretty much impossible NOT to root for (more on this later), but there is actually so much more to the story than that.  This is a story with a tremendous amount of emotional depth and nuance, told in a way that is raw, honest, heartfelt, and realistic.  

When the story first starts out, it might seem, on the surface, like "romance trope" territory:  a shy and soft-spoken good girl (who is also an ardent rule-follower) falls in love with a handsome bad boy whom we find out actually has a heart of gold despite his tortured past — but then tragedy tears them apart and they end up going down very different paths, seemingly forever…yet somehow the deep connection they share keeps pulling them back into each other's orbit. That's the general premise, but as the story progresses, we come to realize that there is so much more beneath the surface that, in the end, elevates things to a level beyond a simple love story.  There is love, yes, but also family, friendship, parental expectations, unrequited longing, missed opportunities, regret, tragedy, death, etc…and a roller coaster ride of feelings and emotions both heavy-hitting as well as lighthearted. Throughout it all — despite how many times I felt incredibly frustrated with Rosie's indecisiveness, or how many times I felt incredibly sad seeing Will's pain and anguish dredged up over and over again, or how many times this "couple" broke my heart, put it back together, then broke it all over again — I could not help rooting for them, steadfastly, unequivocally, from beginning to end.  I didn't always agree with their decisions, of course (in fact, I found myself yelling at them more than once), and truth be told that I was a bit more partial toward Will than Rosie (because, um, how could anyone not be after what he does in the later part of the story), but I still ended up loving both of them regardless.

A few comments on the writing, which I personally thought was beautifully done. I felt that there was a lyrical, rhythmic nature to the writing that seemed to ebb and flow alongside Will and Rosie's tumultuous relationship.  Now there will be aspects of the writing that may not sit well with some readers — for example, the lack of quotation marks for the dialogue, some random words and phrases that don't seem to express a complete thought, some sentences that run on for entire paragraphs — but if you become as immersed in the story as I was, you probably won't notice any of these things after awhile (as I didn't).  

This was Claire Daverly's debut novel, though it definitely didn't read like one, at least to me.  There's no doubt that I will be on the lookout for more from Daverly in the future.  In the meantime, if you're looking for a story that's poignant, powerful, and heartfelt, with believable characters that you won't be able to stop yourself from caring about, I definitely recommend picking this one up!

Received ARC from Pamela Dorman Books via NetGalley.