Book Review: Love and Other Perishable Items by Laura Buzo

The Deal: Ever since she started working at Coles, Amelia Hayes has had a crush on Chris, the guy who was in charge of her training. He's nice, helps her out learning the ropes of working at a supermarket and they share spirited discussions about films and books and second wave feminism. 

Whenever Chris actually thinks of Amelia, he recognizes how special she is, but he doesn't really think about her often as he's busy pondering the meaning of his own life what with all his friends finishing college and moving onto grown up jobs while he still hasn't finished, still works at a supermarket and still lives with his parents. 

In some ways, both Amelia and Chris are stuck in their circumstances, as they weave a interlocking story of unrequited love, friendship and family. 

My Thoughts: Love and Other Perishable Items is the US Edition of Good Oil (which was published a couple of years ago in Australia . I read Good Oil early last year, and I really loved it, so when I found out it was going to be published this side of the point I wanted to check it out to see if a) was as good as I remembered; and b) if they had made changes for this edition. 

The book was as good as I remembered but there were also some changes - mostly the names of certain places, I guess to make it easier for readers on this side of the pond - but I don't think it really affected the story (though I'm not sure I'm okay with the Good Oil thing, but it's something it will probably only bother the people who read the original). 

But I love Amelia and Chris, and I enjoy their voices. Amelia's is so open, she's young and can't wait to start to live and grow up even though it hurts sometimes. Christ is quite honest with himself (his parts come in he shape of journal entries), and he can be douche sometimes, but he is kind of charming and I felt his pain at being stuck not really wanting to grow up. 

All in all, I would say that Love and Other Perishable Items is a must read. 

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Book Gossip # 29 - Love and Other Perishable Items

I'm a huge fan of Laura Buzo's Good Oil, a book that for a really long time has only been available in Australia. But! It shall be published  in the US with the title Love and Other Perishable Items on December 11th, 2012. 

Which I totally wouldn't know if it weren't for my favorite penguin who is also a pirate, Sandy @ Pirate Penguin's Reads

Good Oil / Love and Other Perishable Items is one of the most honest, awesome books I've ever read and I'm so happy to see it crossing across the pond. Plus, it got a really lovely US Cover. 

Summary:

Love is awkward, Amelia should know.  

From the moment she sets eyes on Chris, she is a goner. Lost. Sunk. Head over heels infatuated with him. It's problematic, since Chris, 21, is a sophisticated university student, while Amelia is 15.

Amelia isn't stupid. She knows it's not gonna happen. So she plays it cool around Chris—at least, as cool as she can. Working checkout together at the local supermarket, they strike up a friendship: swapping life stories, bantering about everything from classic books to B movies, and cataloging the many injustices of growing up. As time goes on, Amelia's crush doesn't seem so one-sided anymore. But if Chris likes her back, what then? Can two people in such different places in life really be together?

Through a year of befuddling firsts—first love, first job, first party, and first hangover—debut author Laura Buzo shows how the things that break your heart can still crack you up.

Book Review: Good Oil by Laura Buzo

Love this cover. Don't know why, I just do.

At First Sight: Amelia Hayes divides her time between school, taking care of her baby sister Jess, work and daydreaming about Chris. Ever since she started to work at Woolies (a groceries store), she has been falling for Chris, the guy who introduced her to the mysteries of the cash register, obscure produce and whom generally makes her shifts tolerable. Too bad it's all a hopeless business since she's 15 and he's 21 and sees her as nothing more than the grasshopper to his sensei.

Or does he? Chris' life hasn't been great in the last few months. He's living in the limbo of being about to finish college, of not being ready to break from it, of living at home with his parents and not wanting to get a serious job, of everyone else moving forward to adulthood and leaving him a little behind. He sees Amelia as someone special - to him and in general - even though she can't see it herself, he likes being around her because it's easy and she gets him in many ways, and she makes him truly smile for the first time since the last girl that stomped all over his heart. 

But is that enough?

Second Glance: I don't know what it's about Australian authors  but their writing generally makes me feel so raw inside. Told in alternating 'sections' from both Amelia and Chris's perspectives, Good Oil made me feel so many things and ache so bad and laugh so hard.

I felt for Amelia, remembering what's like to be fifteen and in love with someone unattainable. I loved Amelia's general narrative, how she talks about her life, the ups and downs of her family and her best friend Penny, of the world changing around her and how she feels about it. Of how she feels about Chris and her view of feminism, and so many other things.

Chris was harder to like at times, because he can be a real selfish jerk, but if anything redeems him is how unflinching he is about himself. His 'narrative' comes in the form of the diaries he keeps and it was a stroke of genius. I particularly loved to see how Amelia starts to insinuate herself into his life, how she becomes 'important' to him, in her own quiet way. Once you encompass the whole of his history -not just as seen though Amelia's eyes - he makes sense, and he turns out to be decent enough a guy, even with his occasional jerky tendencies. 

I even loved the ending, and I think the tag line of this book captures it really well: "A book of first loves and second thoughts."

Bottom Line: Good Oil is wonderful book that made me laugh and cry and feel again all that delicious agony of being truly hopelessly in love. It's definitely an afterglow-kind of book, a book that lingers - Proof of that is that it has been a week since I finished reading and I still have Chris and Amelia on my mind.

Favorite Quote: "The universe is against me, I think, as I read down the page. Incredible. Here I am, able to treat myself to the words of longing, desire and downright worship in Chris’ funny handwriting, knowing that they are not for me and never will be. Thanks universe. Thanks heaps. You bastard." - Amelia

About Amelia: "She even takes the goings-on of fictitious characters personally. These are the things she thinks about when she is packing groceries." - Chris

1/2