Dekel, Yanir. Imperfect Thing Called Love. Self-published, 2015. 235p. ISBN 9781512244458. Paperback.

“Imperfect Thing Called Love is the story of a gay guy’s first year navigating life after the breakup of his first meaningful relationship. It’s a story of the lessons learned about love when the heart is broken. About the first year of therapy, the first year of real self-discovery.

With a goal to find love again, the main character goes on a journey to reinvent himself as a single guy while trying to understand why his relationship failed. He deals with his past, his insecurities, body image, fantasy, dating, emotions, and sensitivity. Will he go back to his ex? Will he ever love and be loved again? With the help of a therapist like no other he learns, first and foremost, to love himself.

Imperfect Thing Called Love is a best friend who understands what you’re going through after a breakup.” –description from amazon.com

Although billed as a novel, this is not a novel in the usual sense.  Rather it is a self-centered blog, first published in Israel, by a young man bemoaning the loss of his first love.  It is confessional and, frankly, boring. It is filled with whining, recrimination and references to his therapy.  It is told like most blogs in the first person.  I cannot recommend this so-called novel to anyone.

James Doig Anderson
Professor Emeritus of Library and Information Science, Rutgers University