Book Review: You Don’t Love This Man by Dan DeWeese

Title: You Don’t Love This Man
Author: Dan DeWeese
Genre: Fiction
Year: 2011
Acquired: Through TLC Book Tours, in exchange for an honest review
Rating: 4 of 5 stars

  *I stole this above idea from Kathleen’s blog.

From Goodreads:
A novel about fatherhood, marriage . . . and bank robbery.
On the morning of his daughter Miranda’s wedding, Paul learns that the bank he manages has been robbed—apparently by the same man who robbed it twenty-five years before. As if that weren’t enough, Miranda, who is set to marry Paul’s former best friend—a man twice her age—seems to have gone missing.

Struggling to reconcile his little girl with the grown woman he’s about to walk down the aisle (if he can find her), to accept his onetime peer as his future son-in-law, and to comprehend the strange coincidence of being robbed by the same man two decades apart, Paul takes stock of everything leading up to this moment—as he attempts to navigate the day’s many surprises while questioning the motives and choices of those around him.

My review:

I’ll admit, it took me a while to get into this book. I don’t read too many books from a male character’s point of view and it was hard to connect to Paul at first. He seemed a little self-centered and self-righteous, especially in dealing with his female co-workers. Gradually, as the story progressed, I began to absolutely fall in love with every part of this book. I grew to love Paul’s character, as a father who just wants what’s best for his daughter. He’s stuck in a cycle of mediocrity, divorced with an adult child and a lackluster career. As the book follows him through this day of dealing with a bank robbery and trying to find his daughter, he begins to reflect on how he got here — from his career to his divorced status to befriending this guy his daughter is now marrying.

As I got used to the writing style and the dynamics between present-day and the past, I couldn’t put this book down. There was a powerful message hidden beneath the cover. While it was hard to relate to some aspects as I’m younger and female, there was an underlying message of life. It is what you make of it and past experiences can shape your tomorrow. It’s cliché, but it’s also incredibly true. Paul is discovering how silent he has been throughout his life and this is the first time he’s really stood up for what he believes in and wants.
I would recommend this book for anyone in search of a great book that stretches the bounds of regular fiction. It’s a book for someone searching to read something with a bigger, deeper meaning. For me, being 23 and on the verge of graduating from college and really beginning my adult life, it was a different perspective and view on things. It’s a book about fatherhood, it’s a book about life, and it’s a book about acknowledging the choices we’ve made and moving on from them.