Love is a Canoe’s structure featuring a book within a book delves into marriage, love and need, three staples of life not necessarily related. The novel, written by Ben Schrank, is a complex, fun read.
Marriage Is a Canoe, published in 1971, was a huge success, a self-help book still cherished several editions later. In the book, twelve year old Peter spends a summer with his happily-married grandparents who pass on to him life-long lessons in leading a good, loving life. Many of these discussions take place in a canoe as grandfather and grandson fish in a lake. Decades later, the author Peter Herman is convinced by the original publisher to hold a contest in which he would interview a couple in need of marriage counseling. The winners of the contest would have an all-expense paid weekend with the author, and hopefully gain insights and wisdom about their marriage.
Emily is a devoted fan of Marriage Is a Canoe and as she witnessed her parents’ rocky relationship, she clings to the loving principles of marriage discussed in the book. Emily and her husband Eli’s marriage is faltering. Emily submits an essay as an entry to the contest, hoping that a discussion with her idol, author Peter Herman, will help Eli’s and her marriage.
The publisher of Marriage Is a Canoe, Ladder & Rake Books, sponsors the contest to beef up sales. Ambition at times gets in the way of reality and this contest is not going as planned.
Love Is a Canoe is a compelling read. My one regret is that I didn’t create a list of characters when I first started the book. There are many people to keep track of, including two people with the same first name. The novel contains many truths about love and marriage, love without marriage, and love despite marriage.