Love is the most complex of all emotions, in my humble opinion, and that is made abundantly evident in The Two-Family House. Lynda Cohen Loigman takes us on a masterful journey into the relationships of two brothers, their wives, children and extended family, which, on the
…more surface seems to be very simple and matter-of-fact. And for a day or so after I finished reading it, I thought that it was just that - a simple novel about a family with issues.
But I was wrong. I couldn't stop thinking about those people - how they thought and felt, and how they behaved, as a result of one feeling: love. Each character in Loigman's creation goes through gut-wrenchingly difficult situations, either prior to when we meet them or throughout the time we are privy to their reality. Choices are made by parents and siblings that effect every generation named in the book as well as those that will follow. And despite the fact that so many of those choices are made out of love, painful difficulties ensue and lives are complicated and very often, damaged in major ways.
As it is in life, we are not aware of the circumstances that were someone's reality before we are born or before we encounter them and it is so in this book. The parents of Abe, Mort, Helen and Rose are not part of the cast of characters but they play a strategically impactful role in each character's story line. And as it is in life, one would like to think that all parent's actions/decisions are unselfish and come from unconditional love for their children – but that is not universally true and again, in my opinion, definitely not the case in this book. And the way in which Lynda Cohen Loigman goes about revealing this to us has made me realize that this author has a very special gift – she removes you from wherever you are at the moment you begin The Two-Family House and takes you on a venture into exploring the truly complex nature of love. (less)
