The Conditions of Love by Dale M. Kushner

Hi, everyone! I've got two posts for you today. First up I'm a stop on the TLC book tour for Dale M. Kushner's The Conditions of Love.

Eunice never knew her father, just that he'd abandoned her and her mother very shortly after Eunice was born. He returned once when she was just ten years old, only to disappear again. 

Throughout her life, people come and go offering Eunice pieces of themselves and love along the way. In this way, she is able to experience all the important love a person should have in their life. Though where the love comes from is anything but ordinary.

This is a hard book to pin down in a nutshell. Basically, Eunice's mother is a very egocentric flake who doesn't really provide more than the basics for her daughter. Not that it's not hard to sympathize with her, and Eunice does often side with her mother. But there's so much neglect before they finally part. And the parting itself is almost tragic. Eunice handles each loss in her life with bravery but each loss also tears her up a bit.

Eunice so quickly draws the reader into her story; she's incredibly easy to love. As a reader I felt like I was cheering her on throughout the book, just hoping that someone would finally give her all the things she deserves - stability, warmth, and love... and many of them do, but can they really compensate for her parents' neglect?

Dale M. Kushner's debut may sound a bit sad, but it's really not. The story is told in a very thoughtful way and Eunice's strength alone makes it more uplifting than you would think. The fact that she is able to meet so many wonderful people throughout her life also makes this more of a feel good story than my description might suggest.

Rating: 3.5/5

To see more stops on the tour be sure to check out the official TLC tour page here. For more on the author, including a look at her speaking about The Conditions of Love you can visit her website here.