This book isn’t new – it’s already out in paperback with “National Bestseller” emblazoned across the top of the cover, because apparently a book’s success in satisfying the impulsive book-buying habits of the ignorant masses is a selling point for when its newness wears out. But always a man behind the times, I just now read Adverbs by Daniel Handler, and the book fully deserves its bestseller status.Handler’s language is deceptively simple. You won’t be reaching for your dictionary. There’s an almost childlike quality to the way he structures his thoughts. But those thoughts are anything but childish, and the masterful prose dances around the page in loops of tangled logic and surprising but inevitable revelations. Handler has a comedian’s eye for observing everyday things in a tongue-in-cheek manner, but he is always reverential to the theme, and the humor serves the story, as opposed to existing for its own sake.

The best thing about Adverbs is the interconnectivity of its chapters. The novel doesn’t follow traditional narrative structure. Each chapter is almost a standalone story. Almost. Repeated settings, characters, and the one unifying, clearly articulated and repeated theme hold the novel together. It’s rewarding every time you notice some reference to something that happened earlier, usually buried in the middle of something else, and I’m sure that repeated readings would reveal even more connections.

Oh, by the way, this story is about love. Maybe not exactly about how love works, but how you’d think love would work if all you’d done was read the manual. A manual translated poorly from the Japanese.