Notes on What we talk about when we talk about love

I. The famous tale What we talk about when we talk about love narrates a
conversation between two couples trying to define the nature of love. Mel, the
cardiologist, starts saying that spiritual love, as he learnt in the seminar, is the most
important one. Then Terri, his current wife, recalls her ex-husband, a psychotic
abuser that, after trying to kill her, committed suicide. The couple start to discuss
because Mel can not understand how love can imply abuse or violence, while Mel,
without knowing how to express that, is convinced that Ed really loved her.
Throughout the narration, Mel will keep on trying to define the nature of love
through some examples, like the story elderly couple, whose conclusion -the man
depressed because he was not able to see his wife- was not understood by his friends.
On the other hand, Laura and Nick are only able to define love by showing mutual
affection

The idea that lies in the text is the impossibility of giving a univocal
definition of love, because this feeling, ultimately, depends on the way each person
understands the world: it is something that, so intimate, is impossible to apprehend
and, therefore, to communicate.

Alberto Fadón Duarte