Emmy Abrahamson

Julia is a Swede living in Austria where she teaches English at Berlitz. She’s in Vienna because she followed a boyfriend there; now they’ve broken up and she’s at loose ends. One day, while waiting on a park bench she meets a smelly, dirty homeless man, Ben. They enter into an easy conversation and when she gets up to leave he virtually commands her to meet him again the next evening. Thus begins their relationship.

This was a quick, fast read and mildly entertaining. I shook my head at the chances Julia took, but recognized what she saw in Ben. He was clearly intelligent, caring, giving and willing to work at the relationship. She, on the other hand, was pretty closed off to any change in routine, and visibly embarrassed by her boyfriend. They are sometimes at cross purposes and have trouble communicating clearly with one another. The plot is rather implausible, including chasing him to Vancouver and wandering aimlessly in that city on the chance she’d find him. But there is a happy ending.

All told it’s a decent chick-lit, new-adult romance.

As an afterward, there is both an interview with the author, AND an essay by Abrahamson’s husband ... who was homeless when she met him on a park bench in Amsterdam. But THIS is a novel, not a memoir.… (más)