Based on the events of September 11, 2001, Love is the Higher Law, David Levithan’s newest novel, is the undeniable literary grandchild of John Hersey’s nonfiction masterpiece Hiroshima. Dually founded on the brutal, chaotic physical and emotional aftermath of history-altering days, Love is the Higher Law and Hiroshima are captivating accounts of the frank and bittersweet details of each respective anthropological catastrophe. As well, both texts employ character-specific chapters to recount that individual’s thoughts and well-being; this collage of characters’ perceptions and conditions works to communicate to readers the commotion and turmoil of the minutes, hours, days, weeks, and months following these turning-point days of personal and world history.
Chronicling the “before,” “during,” and “after” of 9/11 in the lives and relationships of three New York City teenagers, Love is the Higher Law is told through the male and female protagonists’ raw, poignant voices in independent, episodic narratives. While you may first notice the dramatic, panoramic photograph of the Tribute in Light radiating from the cover of Love is the Higher Law, the contents of David Levithan’s 2009 work of fiction also delivers. Levithan’s incorporation of conversations and e-mails between characters, intimate places and realities known only to New Yorkers in the attack’s immediate aftermath, the new-found meaning of song lyrics, and the uncertainty of “getting back to life as usual” combine to satisfy, and illustrate, the promise of the book’s abstract, beatitude title.
Reviewed by Alena Bogucki, TC 2007
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