Mistakes and Other Lovers (Amy Lovat, Macmillan)

In Amy Lovat’s Mistakes and Other Lovers, El O’Reilly finds herself involved in a circle of Christian friends and their complex, tense social dynamics as she navigates the aftermath of dropping out of university, breaking up with her fiance, and chasing an aloof, magnetic youth pastor, Mace, who gets engaged to someone else. Through El’s tumultuous emotions and impulsive decisions, Lovat attempts to capture the chaotic temporal space between adolescence and adulthood. While the novel shows promise, it falls short of its potential by primarily focusing on El’s romantic and sexual experiences. Though El’s friendships and relationships with her family are briefly explored, much of the novel focuses on her toxic relationship with the narcissistic Mace and her sexual tension with her new friends. This approach creates a one-dimensional and nebulous protagonist, and while a likeable protagonist may not be Lovat’s goal, I found the way El strayed from self-destructive to dull and self-absorbed, made it difficult for me to engage with the novel’s repetitive scenes. However, it’s worth noting Lovat’s prose is fluid, and the social circle of the Christian youth group she portrays is interesting, simmering with hidden desires, hypocrisy, and scandal. Lovat is successful in tapping into the ambivalence, fear and intensity inherent to the growing pains of your early twenties.

Books+Publishing reviewer: Shivani Prabhu is a Melbourne-based writer and editor. Books+Publishing is Australia’s number-one source of pre-publication book reviews.

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Category: Reviews