Romantic Love

Love is a main theme of the novel, which is akin to a classic romance in its structure. Mia and Paul are both in love with people before they meet one another. Mia is in love with David, her husband, even though he cheats on her. When she decides to leave him, she tells her friend Daisy, “I’m never going to fall in love with the idea of someone again. Next time, reality is all I’ll settle for. Give me the present and only the present” (139). This suggests that her love for David is not real, but built on an illusion.

Paul, too, is in love with a woman in a way that is not entirely based on reality. He is in love with his Korean translator whom he only sees for two weeks a year. He even admits that the idea of...