Danny Scheinmann's first novel Random Acts of Heroic Love is the perfect book for the romantic who believes in the power of love to conquer seemingly insurmountable obstacles. But it is also a book about grief and how the loss of love can prove so debilitating for the person involved that madness looms and isolation from others is its close companion.
Plot in Random Acts of Heroic Love by Danny Scheinmann
There are two stories that Scheinmann switches between in the book. The first is the story of Leo and Eleni who meet at university and fall in love. When Eleni is killed in a bus crash whilst fulfilling her dream of travelling to South America, Leo is devastated. Leo's story centres on his attempt to deal with his grief and guilt and we watch as he steadily declines into a desperate state, distancing his friends and attempting to find meaning for what has happened in the world around him.
The second story deals with that of Moritz Daniecki, an Hungarian sent to Siberia during the Great War who has witnessed many hardships and terrors. Before he left his village to fight, he committed himself to Lotte, his first love and vowed that no matter what the obstacles, he would return as long as he had the promise from her that she would wait for him.
Leo's Story in Random Acts of Heroic Love by Danny Scheinmann
Leo's story is set in 1992 and deals with his attempt to come to terms with his extreme grief. This has a lot of negative effects on the rest of his life as, despite the sympathy of family and friends, Leo's increasingly bizarre and unfamiliar behaviour serves to bemuse and isolate the people closest to him. This includes Hannah, a friend from university who also knew Eleni and seems in some ways to be the ideal replacement for Eleni in Leo's life. In fact, Leo convinces himself of this although Hannah does not feel the same way, resulting in distance rather than intimacy.
Perhaps one of the most poignant relationships that is highlighted in this book is the one that Leo has with his father, Frank. Reserved at best, distant at worst, Leo's father struggles to help his son with his grief, finding it difficult to discuss any emotional aspect of life. Leo fails to understand this at all and it creates resentment for Leo but we learn that there is a deep reason for this emotional incapacity and one of the key moments in the book is when the barrier between Leo and his father, with some coaxing from his mother, is finally brought down and understanding blossoms between them.
This resolution is linked to the other story told in the book, that of Moritz Daniecki.
Moritz's Story in Random Acts of Heroic Love by Danny Scheinmann
Moritz's story is set in the Great War and tells of the hardship endured by soldiers in that conflict. Moritz loves Lotte, a girl far higher than him in status but one nonetheless who returns the love that he feels for her. An agreement is cemented before he leaves to fight: that she will wait for him to return and not commit herself to another.
For Moritz, this mutual love and the promise of a lifetime together is what fuels his everyday existence; without it, he would sink. When he is sent to Siberia, he resolves to escape and return to Lotte, despite the high chance that he will die in one of any number of ways: in the extreme weather conditions; by enemy soldiers; from fatigue and hunger. This does not deter him and even when hampered by an injured friend, Moritz maintains his determination to see his love again. We as readers yearn for Moritz's courage to be rewarded and for his intended reunion with Lotte to be successful.
Scheinmann has chosen for Moritz to be relating his story to his children as he is dying so that they can pass on his remarkable history to future generations and this in itself is moving as Moritz has overcome great adversity and peril only to be struck down by disease.
The Conclusion of Random Acts of Heroic Love by Danny Scheinmann
So what of the connection between the two stories? Let me just say that when Leo's father insists on telling him about his grandfather's legacy that Leo is overwhelmed by the story that is conveyed to him and this empowers him in a number of ways: to resolve his differences with his father and to move on with his life and conquer the bereavement and the guilt that has been restricting him since Eleni's death.
This book was a moving and absorbing read and is partly based on the writer's true life experiences and history which serves to furnish the reader with the optimistic hope that perhaps love can conquer all.
Source
Random Acts of Heroic Love, Danny Scheinmann, Black Swan, 2007
Rachel Deeming - Rachel is a mother of two boys, one 18 months old and the other a busy boy of four. She used to work until recently as an English teacher ...
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