Love and Glory

Some friends of mine gave me a copy of Love and Glory as a present. They knew how much I liked the author (actually, I like the Spenser mystery series, which are penned by the author), and thought that I might like this book as well. Since I am not a rabid fan of love stories, the book found its way to the very bottom of my 'to read much later list'. Well, to make a long story short, given that I read a book a day, I eventually got around to Love and Glory, and I now regret not having read it much earlier. Parker spins a tale well, with characters that, despite all our best efforts, we come to care about, a clipped, succinct writing style, and an absorbing narrative. In this love story, we meet a young man who goes off to college, falls in love with a flighty, free-spirited, but somewhat confused classmate. She naturallly breaks his heart, he eventually suffers hardship and a protracted fall from grace, and we watch as he picks himself up at rock bottom, dusts off his backside, and slowly but surely climbs the ladder to personal success one slow but sure step at a time, using nothing but strength of character, force of conviction and the flicker of undying love for the woman who once spurned him. Of course, you can guess the ending to this wonderful tale, but as they say about life, it is not the destination but the journey that matters most. The hero's story from idealistic young man to a man in his own right is both touching and highly motivating. Parker's penchant for dropping life lessons here and there are evident in this story, and at times I got the feeling that I was actually reading a Spenser novel, only in this setting, everyone's favorite Back Bay PI chose to go to college and grad school, eventually becoming a writer, and not a detective. There were also some interesting similarities between Boone, the hero of this story, and Spenser, such as both serving in the Korean Conflict, both sharing a love of literature, and both possessing a love, bordering on religious devotion, for one woman. In sum, I liked Love and Glory, and I think most people will like it, too. Spanning a time period between the early 1950s and the middle 1970s, it also provides the reader with a good glimpse of a turbulent in American history. For me, the book was an interesting departure from my usual fare (mysteries, assorted non-fiction and god-awful sci-fi), and in future, I may add more of the genre to my eclectic reading list.

It is hard to comprehend what the other reviewers here missed. This is a deeply moving and timeless story of love, loss, horror, redemption, pursuit, return and sacrifice. The writing is clean, evocative and will touch you. You will feel, you will cry, you will understand.

If you enjoy the Spenser novels, you will probably enjoy this - although the novel is not about Spenser. The main character wants to win the fair haired maiden at any cost and in that sense is romantic. What is lacking is any real history of the main character that would give him more life. The ending is like a fairy tale. The main reason I read this was to provide insight into the thinking of the author who created Spenser, who in my opinion is a wonderful character. If I hadn't read the Spenser novels and really enjoyed them I doubt I would have read and enjoyed this novel.

Years ago, when I first discovered Spenser and immediately read them all I decided to take a chance with "Love and Glory".It truly shows the versatility of Parker. It is a roller-coaster of emotions which will endure the ages of time. I recommend it highly!

This book is one of Robert Parker's few non-Spenser novels, though the protagonist has some sort of family resemblance to the Boston gumshoe. Like the Spenser novels, it's told in first person narrative and makes plenty of literary references. There's a friendship with a black man who boxes (like Hawk), and the girl eats fastidiously (like Susan). Much of the book takes place at Taft University, a fictional college that was the setting of Parker's Spenser novel Playmates. But what's most interesting about this book is that the protagonist describes his experiences as a writer and his work on a doctorate in English literature. At this point the character has less in common with Spenser and more in common with Robert Parker himself. One is left wondering if through this novel, Parker has given his readers more of an autobiographical glimpse of his own life and literary career.