Blink if You Love Me


Fiction - Literary
158 Pages
Reviewed on 05/14/2019
Buy on Amazon

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Author Biography

David Moscovich is the Romanian-American author of You Are Make Very Important Bathtime (JEF Books: Chicago,2013) and LIFE+70[Redacted], a print version of the single most expensive literary e-book ever to be hacked (Lit Fest Press). His latest novel, Blink if You Love Me, is now available from Adelaide Books in 2019.

Recipient of fellowships from New York University, International House NY and sponsorship from the New York Foundation for the Arts (NYFA), he holds an MFA in Fiction from NYU and is editor and publisher of Louffa Press, a micro-press dedicated to printing innovative fiction in collectible, handprinted chapbooks as well as artist books.

    Book Review

Reviewed by Lesley Jones for Readers' Favorite

In Blink if You Love Me by David Moscovich, we follow the main character D's comical journey through his diary entries as he relocates with his new wife, Eva, to Porto, Portugal. He seems to continually fail to make sense of the different aspects of the culture and the people around him. Everything he says in the native language seems to have a hidden innuendo, and his Freudian slips are not his only problems. Eva's family involves themselves in his life and are always at hand with advice and criticism, including the cleaning lady. As he gets himself entangled in one embarrassing situation after another, his wife's demands and behavior become more troublesome. Eva's dislikes seem to be increasing daily and include onions, oranges, and the narrator's loud breathing, which she insists must either become quieter or stop altogether.

This laugh-out-loud comedy will make you cringe with embarrassment as the narrator D tries to gain his wife and her family's approval. I loved all the characters as they were so lifelike, and each had a clear, unique personality. The cleaning lady and Eva's brother A were definitely my favorites; their behavior was absolutely hysterical. The author has a clear skill of descriptive narrative that engages you throughout. I couldn't make my mind up about Eva. Did she actually like her poor husband? Her outbursts definitely made the novel for me and her requests of her husband became more and more extreme, especially asking if he would consider becoming pregnant. The glasses scene was another one of my favorites. I really felt D's humiliation. This is a definite must for anyone that loves a novel with crazy, humorous characters who find themselves in ridiculous situations. Highly recommended.

Caitlin Lyle Farley

Blink If You Love Me is the tale of an American man, D, married to a Portuguese licorice sculptor, Eva, and living with her family in Porto, Portugal. Told as a series of journal entries, D narrates the trials of overcoming the language barriers, the embarrassment and confusions that arise around cultural differences such as the etiquette surrounding spitting, and how to eat sardines. Marriage to the temperamental Eva is not smooth but the pair overcomes the speed bumps of appropriate nicknames, where and when one should discuss bowel movements, and suspicions of Stockholm Syndrome despite the difficulties they cause.

David Moscovich’s Blink If You Love Me is both funny and insightful as D navigates the Portuguese language and culture while surrounded by Eva’s loving and outspoken family. C, the cleaning lady, makes several notable appearances in regards to laundry, the first being in the opening entry, The Case of the Panty Kisser. D’s catalog of woes and often humorous mishaps include the difficulties of being the unpaid chauffeur, the accidentally lewd pronunciation of a variety of Portuguese words and phrases, and the challenge of replacing his broken glasses. By turns both eloquent and bitingly sarcastic, Moscovich’s prose sparkles with wit and descriptive metaphors. All the characters except Eva and Grandma are referred to simply by their initials, but this doesn’t cause much confusion in Blink If You Love Me. It’s easy to connect to D through his journal entries, but also impossible to ignore the tender, loving agitation he feels for Eva.

Asher Syed

Blink If You Love Me by David Moscovich is contemporary, light comedy fiction that follows the main character, simply known as “D”, as he dives head first as a new resident in the coastal European country of Portugal. D is a newly married man in an old world culture, as dependant on his wife Eva as he navigates Porto and his Portuguese in-laws as she is dependant on him as her personal driver. The result is a collection of D's issues regarding language, customs, relationships and family, and simply trying to stay alive when fish bones are out to get him.

Blink If You Love Me is written as a series of journal entries, and D's (mis)adventures are provided in a bite-sized format, which allows for each scene to be delivered as something akin to flash fiction. Where David Moscovich shines as a writer is in the protagonist D's relatability, and in creating a second coming of age for a man who is essentially having to start over from scratch in a country where very little resembles what he knows. Eva is sexy, charming and (to us, at least) foreign, whereas D is bumbling and authentic. This is one of those books that just make you smile and feel really good in between some genuinely laugh out loud moments. it's an opportunity for any reader to be an armchair tourist in one of the oldest, most gorgeous countries on the planet. Highly recommended for lovers of contemporary, literary, travel, and comedic fiction.

Jocelyn Smith

I would second the notions in these reviews that this is a laugh out loud contemporary comedy and a fascinating travelogue for Portugal. The characters are what kept me reading this novel, and the absurd situations would translate perfectly into something on Netflix. I would be curious to see this with an actor like Ben Stiller cast as the protagonist "D". Super recommended.

Jane Hammond

Really enjoyed this. Recommended for those who like romantic comedies with happy endings!

Margaret Gladstone

Fun stories! I have read this book more than once and shared it with many others, starting with the first story about the cleaning lady's dirty little secret.