Tab Article

Ratings: ★★★★☆ (4.5/5)
Genre: Literary Fiction, Psychological Fiction

Book Review:
Howard Jacobson's ''The Act of Love'' is not a comfortable read, but it is a brilliant and unforgettable one. It is a novel that takes the most fundamental of human emotions—love, jealousy, desire—and turns them inside out, exposing the dark, complex, and often perverse forces that lie beneath. The novel is narrated by Felix Quinn, a man who, by his own admission, is a ''connoisseur of cuckoldry.'' He loves his wife, Marisa, with an obsessive passion, but his love is of a very particular kind. He believes that true happiness lies not in possessing her exclusively, but in orchestrating her infidelity. He wants her to have a lover, and he wants to know everything about it. The novel is his account of how he brings this about, introducing the charismatic Marius into their lives and then watching, with a mixture of exquisite pain and pleasure, as their affair unfolds. Jacobson's prose is extraordinary—dense, witty, and fiercely intelligent. He writes with a kind of molten energy, as the Daily Mail put it, that makes the English language move in new and startling ways. He is unflinching in his exploration of Felix's psychology, taking us deep into the mind of a man whose desires are so far outside the norm that they are almost alien. ''The Act of Love'' is a novel about the nature of fantasy, the power of imagination, and the strange, twisted paths that love can take. It is a book that will challenge you, disturb you, and stay with you long after you finish it. It is a startling achievement, and a testament to Jacobson's fearless genius.