Books: Love Virtually and Every Seventh Wave

 

Love Virtually and Every Seventh Wave: Written by Daniel Glattauer. Translated (from German) by Katharina Bielenberg and Jamie Bulloch.

It's one of my favourite quotations, from one of my favourite books. I posted it on Twitter recently, and just like that, I picked Love Virtually and began re-reading it.

I read it first in 2016, without any expectation, to be honest. Because the epistolary form of writing was a new concept for me. But I read and loved it and it made me restless because I had no idea that there was a sequel to Love Virtually. I didn't read Kindle back then so I ordered Every Seventh Wave, the sequel, right away and the wait made me restless.

Now, I'm not someone who rereads books, but I somehow knew I'd reread these two very unique, lovely, endearing books. I have even mentioned it in this post, even on Goodreads.

So, I began rereading and couldn't stop. I finished it in two days and obviously picked the sequel instantly and finished (relished) in almost a single sitting. It was as though I was reading them for the first time. And if you're a reader, you know how wonderful it feels. 

As much as I loved these books, I never got around to writing about them on my blog (I did write a review on Amazon and Goodreads and recommend it to two hundred people though), but this time, I felt like documenting it on my blog. 

Emmi (Emma to others) accidentally sends an email to the wrong address, as she is trying to cancel her subscription to a magazine. After the third message, she gets a reply from someone called Leo who tells her that she had sent her messages to the wrong address. 

After a few months or so, she again sends a Happy New Year/Merry Christmas message to him and for some reason (revealed later), it irks Leo and he doesn't try to hide it in his sarcastic reply. Later, Emmi sends a message again, not purposefully, and thus, on an irritating and sarcastic note, their proper email conversation begins, and how!

You don't even realize when they fall in love, slowly, deeply ―without really meeting (they meet, kind of, that's also very interesting), without knowing how they look, and you, the reader, suddenly begin to feel it. Conflict number one: Emmi is married.

The book leaves you with a sense of fulfilment and a sense of loss at the same time, and the feeling lingers. Love Virtually is complete in a sense, and yet incomplete, and so here comes the sequel to your rescue.

Every Seventh Wave (Love the title!) manages to carry the beauty (of Love Virtually) forward. There are several beautiful moments (emails) in this book. Strangely, it felt more beautiful and deep this time. The longing in their messages, especially Leo…oh, I rooted for them. 

I cherish this unique love story. Leo and Emmi: I believed they would stay with me for a long time, when I read it for the first time, and I was right. 

The books are quirky and fascinating; one of a kind. The writing is so engaging and engrossing. The emails are witty, funny, endearing, very interesting, sometimes touching. You just flow with their conversations. There are some run-on sentences in the emails that sometimes confuse but it doesn't matter. After all, we don't think about these things when we write casual emails, do we?

It is very imaginative, and it is so smart of the author to keep the sense of apprehension, conflicts and cliffhangers intact in such a format. The way he manages to describe the personal lives of Emmi and Leo ―without really describing ―through their emails is truly commendable. It's an art, I'd say, to tell a story (of total 500 pages) through emails, just emails! 

Is there anything I didn't like?

Just one thing ―one particular act. The story could have done without it. Just my view. But it doesn't matter. 

If you're looking for a unique read, if you enjoy reading love stories, you cannot miss this book. There's another book by the author. Forever Yours. I am going to read that, too (it hasn't got good reviews, but now my reading doesn't really depend on the reviews, as I have left many well loved books unfinished).

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