The Writer:
Steve Kluger has written novels, plays, and even a musical—most of them concerning baseball. Almost Like Being in Loveis his third novel.
The Story:
Travis is a nerd. Craig is a jock. And, in their senior year of prep school, they fall in love. But their perfect relationship is cut short when they leave for college on opposite ends of the country.
20 year later, Travis is unlucky in love and feeling aimless. So he decides to hunt down his long lost love. But Craig has a very full life now, filled with its own complications. Although he misses Travis, he is not ready for the inevitable reunion.
The Judgment:
Kluger tells this story in a very unique way through the use of lists, emails, diary entries, post-it notes and other forms of narrative. This highlights the extreme quirkiness of the characters whose love of old musicals and baseball leads to endless references that were mostly lost on me. It makes them much more bearable than they would’ve come across in a more traditional narrative. It also enhances the novel’s charm, which it already oozes aplenty.
This is definitely a fun distraction of a book. But much of the story feels too cookie cutter cutesy. Travis’ adventure really strained my ability to suspend disbelief. While amusing, they become increasingly tiresome. And, by the time the reunion finally happens, there’s so little left of the book that Kluger really stretches the believable to wrap everything up with a tidy bow.
The JK Review 