Love in the Present Tense

This is the story of three intersecting lives - Pearl, Leonard, and Mitch. Pearl's an adolescent girl who, though struggling to raise her young son alone, has the strength and maturity to teach her child the true meaning of love. When she mysteriously disappears, her young son Leonard is left in the care of their neighbor Mitch - and the two forge a bond as strong as any. Alternating between the first person of Pearl, Leonard, and Mitch, the author weaves together past and present, unraveling her characters' lives in rich emotional detail. LOVE IN THE PRESENT TENSE is about real love - between parents and children, between friends, between romantic partners. It's about the ease or difficulty people have experiencing and expressing love. Catherine Ryan Hyde's writing is a pleasure to read, and her story's a gem. What more can a reader ask for?

Several years ago I decided to get rid of all my books and after taking a van load to the local hospital, I choose to pass them on to someone else as soon as I read a book. BUT....I have 3 exceptions. I buy and keep all of Catherine Ryan Hyde books. I will and have re-read her books. She has this ability to depict her characters in a way that makes you think of something in your own life that needs examination. She is as real as it gets. My other two exceptions are 2 of Barbara Kingsolvers books, The Bean Trees and Pigs In Heaven. And 3 of Nicholas Sparks books. I have read The Notebook 3 times and will read it again someday. If I could only have one author's books to keep, Catherine Ryan Hyde would win hands down.

The author tells this great story in a unique way - through the eyes and voice of each of the characters, bouncing back and forth between characters in different times of their lives. You see their fears and love as it unfolds in different ways for each of them in their own time. I couldn't put this book down - highly recommended.

This story revolves around three main characters: Pearl, a teenage, single mother, her frail (health-wise) son Leonard, and Mitch, the single, male neighbor. Pearl disappears one day and Mitch takes over care of the boy. Mitch seems an unlikely father - he is involved in his own business and in a long term affair with a clients wife - but somehow he takes to Leonard from the very first and even after Leonard is adopted, can't let him go. This book is beautifully written - lyrical and sparse in style. The chapters alternate between the voices of the three characters and are not in chronological order - so the reader gets hints and clues as to what happened and what is going to happen. Hyde does a great job building up the suspense. But as wonderful as all that was - it was the characters themselves that drew me in and held me in the story. Even after I finished the book, they are staying with me and I want to hear more about them. This is a really touching book - without being sappy. I would love another book with these characters.

Some author's names on a dust jacket will immediately catch my attention - one such name is Catherine Ryan Hyde. For this reader/listener, Funerals for Horses and Pay It Forward were imaginative, can't-put-down stories that revealed workings of the human heart. She write with authority and perception, always telling a tale that holds deeper meanings. Listeners to this audio edition read by a gifted ensemble cast will find themselves pondering the importance, the meaning of family and the transcendental quality of love. The narrative is propelled by each of three voices as Pearl, Leonard and Mitch offer their perspective on what life has brought to them. In the beginning it seems as if Pearl never has a chance. Her mother is a drug addict and Pearl becomes pregnant at 13. Not only does she become pregnant but on that same night she accidentally kills her child's father. So begins a life on the run as she tries to protect her son, Leonard, who is born with an eye disease and preternatural wisdom. As fate or luck would have it when Leonard is five their neighbor is Mitch, a young man who operates a home business. The boy is left in his care while Pearl works. However, one day Pearl does not come home leaving Leonard to wonder if there really is such a thing as "forever love" as his mother had promised, and Mitch to try to adapt to his new role as a quasi parent. As always, Hyde tugs on heartstrings as she tells this story of three needy people with poignancy and insightfulness. - Gail Cooke