It's Love We Don't Understand

In his novel 'It Is Love We Don’t Understand' Bart Moeyaert deals with love in a sensitive and refreshing way, expertly unravelling its complexities while at the same time leaving its mystery intact. Through the eyes of a fifteen-year-old girl, we witness the life of a broken family over the course of three stories. In the first of the three we plunge straight into a fierce family quarrel. All survive intact. But the tone has been set. The two following episodes are less stormy, but no less impressive.

Moeyaert writes about horrors which people have become accustomed to and about sorrow which is too comical for words. From a caleidoscopic whole of dialogues, images and seemingly unimportant events, the reader distils a portrait of a dysfunctional family, in which the children long for love and recognition. Moeyaert’s subtlety as a storyteller makes for three scenes which are seemingly simple but are emotionally highly charged. The more the reader dares to be involved in the story, the richer and deeper it becomes.