A Forty Year Kiss: A Novel

“The characters in A Forty Year Kiss are realistic, and many of the scenes are quite well-written, but the story itself falls short of feeling true to life.”

Charlie and Vivian marry for the very best reason—true love. They make vows they intend to keep until Charlie’s drinking and mood swings make it apparent he is not fit to be a husband. Vivan’s second marriage is also one of love and beautiful dedication, especially after her husband’s tragic brain injury. However, her husband’s long-term illness and subsequent death leaves Vivan and their daughter penniless.

While Charlie enjoys a job for the railroad and every luxury money can buy—especially money earned from investing in a little, obscure company called Apple—Vivian never leaves her hometown of Chippewa Falls and barely scrapes by. After Charlie realizes that the biggest mistake he ever made in life was letting Vivian go, he suddenly shows up in town determined to win her back, and the true love they shared sparks once again, shadowed by doubts, fears, and Charlie’s continued proclivity for the bottle.

In this second-chance love story by author Nickolas Butler, we explore what it would be like to get a second chance, and whether we’d be willing to take it. Do old habits die? Do people truly change? Are the mistakes and secrets of the past best kept in past?

Cautious but willing to give him a chance, Vivian brings Charlie back into her life. As he struggles with his addiction, she battles trust issues and the forty-year-old secret she never shared with him. She knows the truth can destroy them, and he knows he must clean himself up for good, but humans rarely do what they should, and those actions have consequences.

Butler’s story of love lost and found has an edginess to it that crawls under one’s skin. Why does Charlie keep messing up? Why does Vivian continue to allow it and forgive him? Perhaps it’s because both have matured enough to realize all human beings are flawed and that without forgiveness, what couple stands any chance at all? On the other hand, maybe neither has matured at all, and both are barreling into the future that looks a lot like the past. A Forty Year Kiss brings into focus the real-life dilemmas of those who choose second chances, even knowing the consequences their choices may have on their lives and the lives of their loved ones.

Throughout the novel, Charlie falls and picks himself back up. Vivian trusts in him against her own inclination to walk away. Whether they stay together is up to each of them to open themselves up to the pain and trauma of their past. Even after all their time apart and the secrets kept, they recognize what they have is rare and special, if they can hold onto it.

Adding to the turmoil of decision-making is Vivan’s lifelong determination to protect her family. Her daughter, Melissa, has two children by two different fathers, a dead-end bartending job, and her own trouble with alcohol. Melissa’s daughters, Addison and Ainsley, add a delightful tone to the novel, bringing out the best in Vivian and Charlie both. Then there’s the mysterious Jessie, mentioned but not seen for a good deal of the book. Though her story isn’t told until late in the novel, it’s more than obvious to the reader who she is and why Vivian has kept her a secret from the man she claims to love.

The characters in A Forty Year Kiss are realistic, and many of the scenes are quite well-written, but the story itself falls short of feeling true to life. Within 24 hours, Charlie is back in Vivian’s life full-time, even amid her doubts and fears. At times, when she tries to express her worry, she comes across as childish without the maturity of someone in her sixties. She constantly tells Charlie he must stop drinking while looking lovingly at him when he passes out on the couch after spending all afternoon drinking with her daughter.

Story aside, the biggest struggle for the reader is the lack of quotations marks. There’s not one in the entire book. It’s often impossible to distinguish between who is speaking, and the actions run right into the dialogue in such a way that the reader must go back and read lines over to fully understand what is being said aloud and what is being thought. It’s confusing and not fair to the reader.

A Forty Year Kiss is a novel about love found and lost that leaves the reader wondering what just happened and if everything will actually end as well as it suggests.