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Joanna Scott’s Everybody Loves Somebody is a compilation of ten short stories of heartache, heartbreak, or true love, spanning from World War I to the present day. Each story has a quiet simplicity to it, a commodity rarely found today. Often, Scott chooses to leave the story’s conclusion untold, making the reader pause to ponder the ending.
Romantic love is not the only love found within the pages of this book. Rather, Scott tells of a love that comes through struggles and the search for a tie with another human being. She brings a full spectrum of relationships to the page, including love between couples, love between parents and children, and love among siblings. She captures many different forms of love—and the breathtaking results, struggles, and stings suffered because of love.
From lives in the tenements of New York City, to a beautiful wedding on a bright, sunny ocean beach, to drunken bouts, prostitution, old age, and an infant making a feast out of a cicada shell, Scott weaves ten powerful stories of love and loss. She tells of romantic, passionate love—as in the story of the kiss that lasts almost a half-hour—but she also tells of compassionate love for family, friends, and the human race.
Although the stories in Everybody Loves Somebody tend to be wordy, Scott often spins tales that won’t soon be forgotten. This can be a difficult book to get through, though, since the tales are so often left open-ended. The book leaves the reader wanting something, but you can’t quite pinpoint what that something is. Still, Scott has a timeless way of telling a tale, and this memorable collection deserves to become a classic.
