REVIEW: Love in Lowercase by Francesc Miralles

In Love in Lowercase by Francesc Miralles, Professor Samuel de Juan woke up on New Year’s Day never imagining he would embark upon a personal journey in the upcoming year that would open his life and mind to new experiences. And it all started because of one tiny little stray cat he would later name Mishima. The cat who showed up unexpectedly at his door became the catalyst for Samuel to interact with someone other than his students in his German studies classes, beginning with his upstairs neighbor.

“In other words, what we are isn’t important. What we do with what we are is important. Hours are worthless unless you know what to do with them.”

Samuel soon finds that opening up to the world and speaking with others in his Barcelona neighborhood can be extremely enlightening. And not only that, but he comes across a woman he once met thirty years ago when they were about six years old. He never forgot his fleeting moments with Gabriela and now feels like he’s been given the gift of truly getting to know her. But Samuel realizes that it may take some time and patience to reach the joyful ending he dreams of having in his new life.

“Love in lowercase?”
“It’s when some small act of kindness sets off a chain of events that comes around again in the form of multiplied love. Then, even if you want to return to where you started, it’s too late, because this love in lowercase has wiped away all traces of the path back to where you were before.”

Love in Lowercase was a rather philosophical journey taken by our main character at the beginning of a new year when everything was fresh with the promise of better things to come.

Samuel’s character was quite interesting. He reminded me a bit of Don Tillman from The Rosie Project by Graeme Simsion in that he was highly intellectual but had problems reading social cues and relating to others. He wasn’t quite as socially stunted as Don, but Samuel was certainly introverted. I kind of loved that it took a stray cat, Mishima, to broaden his world, forcing him to interact with people in his building and a veterinarian as well. And then it built from there, Mishima causing basically a ripple effect in Samuel’s life.

The book synopsis makes this story sound like a second chance romance. It sort of is, but not in the traditional way romance readers have come to expect. I won’t spoil the surprise but Samuel definitely does have a reunion with Gabriela, whom he first met when they were about six years old. I liked the progression of the storyline, with him reminiscing about his past and with how everything built up to the ending. My only gripe is that a few threads of the plot were left open, so we didn’t get closure with a few of the characters. My guess is the author left it that way to let us readers use our imagination as to where things went from there.

A smartly written piece of fiction, Love in Lowercase will have you pondering some of life’s mysteries, laughing out loud, and it might just have you believing that everything does happen for a reason after all.

Book Info:

Publication: Published January 26th 2016 | Penguin Books |

An internationally bestselling romantic comedy for fans of The Rosie Project, about a language-loving bachelor and the cat that opens his eyes to life’s little pleasures

When Samuel, a lonely linguistics lecturer, wakes up on New Year’s Day, he is convinced that the year ahead will bring nothing more than passive verbs and un-italicized moments—until an unexpected visitor slips into his Barcelona apartment and refuses to leave. The appearance of Mishima, a stray, brindle-furred cat, leads Samuel from the comforts of his favorite books, foreign films, and classical music to places he’s never been (next door) and to people he might never have met (his neighbor Titus, with whom he’s never exchanged a word). Even better, Mishima leads him back to the mysterious Gabriela, whom he thought he’d lost long before.

In the spirit of The Solitude of Prime Numbers and The Guest Cat, Love in Lowercase is a charming and uplifting novel about how one man, thanks to a persistent cat-turned-catalyst, awakens to the importance of the little things in life—and discovers that sometimes love is hiding in the smallest characters.