Something in the World Called Love by Sue Saliba.

“for everything was how esma saw the world. everything and nothing. the world was bursting and full and forever, or it was blank and useless and dead.”

Rating: 4/5.

Summary: When Esma moves into 22 Starling Street, she knows she's come to the right place. A place to become someone new. A place to belong.
As the seasons change, she finds herself falling deeper and deeper in love. But not in the way she expects. . .

Review: The first thing that I noticed about Something in the World Called Love was that there were no capital letters. Not after full stops, for the names of people and places, none. At first I thought that that would really annoy me – and for a while it really did. Then I got really involved in the writing of the story.
It’s not so much the storyline and plot that kept me hooked for the 200 page duration of this novel, it was Saliba’s writing style. It was so poetic. The writing style suited the main character Esma – deep, quiet and true. A main character who I quite enjoyed.

“instead the words gave her a ground under her feet, a kind of false knowing that stopped her from stepping out into the reality of things, the truth of things where that there were no words, after all.”

Something in the World Called Love was a short tale of a girl’s need to belong after being hurt and how she and her roommates try to make a home for themselves. The title of this book will certainly catch the eye of romantics. The novel, though, is not as romantic as the title makes it sound, but that’s not to say that romantics won’t enjoy this. It ponders in depth about love, what it is, where it is, when you feel it and why. Being a romantic myself I enjoyed this because it wasn’t traditional. Maybe this novel won’t give a romantic their hit, but it could just change the way you think about love.

There are a lot of unanswered questions in this novel. I would say that it lacks closure, but for me, it gave me enough. The novel and it’s unanswered question gave me enough room to freely imagine what happens next. It allowed me to see why Esma felt the way she did and see that she had grown as a person and so did the majority of the characters around her. And that was enough for me.
As for the characters. Well, Esma was easy to like because she was so timid and realistic, Kara, was harder to like, Chloe was even harder. I was a big fan of Simon, personally.
One thing that I would like to know about this novel, is why there were no capital letters. I feel that there is a secret meaning behind them.
I recommend this novel to anyone who enjoys a short novel that has hidden meanings. To people who like books that make them think or to anyone wanting to read a very unforgettable writing style.

I’m giving Something in the World Called Love four stars. It was a beautifully written novel, really the writing style is amazing.

--Allie.