"Every Story is a Love Story" | Reviewed by Chris Stuckenschneider

A thought-provoking premise will draw readers into “Every Story is a Love Story,” by Imbolo Mbue. This beautiful book imagines an unfathomable scenario, the plot believable thanks to expert pacing and characters who seem real, like people we know or have heard about because of a dire life event.

The novel opens with a letter, a plea for forgiveness written by Victoria, “a good woman who did a terrible thing.” Three years earlier, in New York City, Victoria hit and killed Yoma, a young wife pregnant with twins. Consumed by unrelenting guilt, Victoria sends a letter to Wolo, the late woman’s husband, apologizing profusely and asking if he’d like to meet with her, hoping this might help them heal. (Wolo, his late wife and family are from Cameroon in Central Africa.)

The letter is met with confusion and consternation, not only by Wolo but by his mother, younger brother, other relatives and outspoken pastor. After much anguish and a lengthy discussion with his father and brother, Wolo agrees to meet Victoria. Both are anxious but are willing to take a chance on anything that might release them from their feelings of vengeance and guilt.

Victoria and Wolo meet and walk in silence for 15 minutes before reaching a bench in Central Park. Victoria, an airline pilot, talks of the accident, of being in the wrong place at the wrong time. Wolo wants to know the truth about the day of accident—laying blame again as Victoria pleads for him to forgive her. Tears running down her face Wolo asks, “So you want my pity? Is that what you’re looking for.” They part with nothing resolved—until the next time and the next. Gradually, the two form a shaky, confused relationship neither quite understands.

Interwoven into the narrative are back stories about Wolo’s parents’ marital difficulties, in part due to their move to America, and a serious disagreement that comes to blows when Wolo’s brother oversteps bounds with a young woman. The novel also touches on the difficulties faced by immigrants who must figure out how to live in a new world vastly different from their nation of birth.

Abundant themes permeate “Every Story is a Love Story,” an easy to read novel that captivates from page one. Readers will find themselves asking if they could forgive and forget, meet with a person responsible for the death of their loved ones, adjust to life in a country with far different customs then their own and mend a sibling relationship with a brother who commits a despicable, immoral crime.

This marvelous book should appeal to many and lead to brilliant discussions in book groups.

Buy the book