Next Year For Sure - Zoey Leigh Peterson

Polyamory. Some might assume that it is the opposite of monogamy.

Polyamory derives from the Greek words poly, which means many or several, and amor, which means love. Polyamory means to love and maintain intimate relationships with more than one partner, where the individuals have knowledge of, and give consent of all partners.

In Zoey Leigh Peterson’s debut novel Next Year For Sure, she explores a year in the life of Chris and Kathryn, a previously monogamous couple of nine years. In this novel, Chris shares everything with Kathryn, including his crush on a girl named Emily. Chris’ over-whelming curiosity with Emily kick-starts this couple’s polyamorous journey together. Peterson carefully investigates the human experience, and how we as humans are constantly trying to negotiate emotions, feelings, and relationships. Peterson shares the narrative between Chris and Kathryn, which allows the reader to create bonds with both characters equally. No one is made out to be ‘the bad guy’. No one is ‘at fault’.

Kathryn peaked my personal interest. She is human, and therefore flawed. She continually struggles with the idea of polyamory. She struggles with feelings of insecurity, jealously, and anxiety, but decided to push Chris into asking Emily out. She really wants Chris to be happy, but she continually struggles with the idea of Chris loving someone else. Peterson allows us to connect with Kathryn as she wrestles with her own self-doubts that surround the idea of being ‘good enough’. Kathryn wants to be a strong, progressive women - but what does that really mean?

Is polyamory a progressive approach to relationships?

What does the term progressive really mean?

Let’s break it down. Progressive means: ‘making progress towards better conditions; employing or advocating more enlightened or liberal ideas, new or experimental methods.’

Progressive, suggests better. I am hesitant to suggest that polyamory is better than monogamy, or that monogamy is better than polyamory. Who has the authority to dictate that one way of living is better than another? But it is certainly different. I am currently in a monogamous relationship, and have never experienced polyamory first hand. Because of this, my personal knowledge of relationships does not and cannot fully comprehend love outside of monogamy. With that being said though, polyamory may certainly be for some.

Next Year For Sure explores how polyamory may not be for ‘the people’ society expects or suspects to be in polyamorous relationships. This book aims to break down the assumptions and stereotypes of who can be polyamorous. Peterson succeeds in questioning the readers presumptions, presenting Chris and Kathryn as ‘the perfect couple’, and then subverting our notions of what it means to love another.

What is progressive, is the ability to open our minds to different ways of love. To be a progressive person, we must allow ourselves to accept different kinds of love. Love should not be restrained inside a box, should not be labelled or limited. We must break down the barriers that our society has created that surround our idea of what love is, and how we can love.

We live in a monogamous society, one that praises and promotes monogamy (being intimate with one partner, at a time). Normally it is assumed that to have more than one partner at a time, the individual maintaining those multiple partners is ‘cheating’, and failing to be open with all parties. More common in our society is serial monogamy, the practice of engaging in a succession of monogamous sexual relationships.

This topic of ‘love’ dominates our society; this idea of ‘love’ saturates our media, our pop-culture, our films, our sit-coms, and our literature. The genre of romance and rom-com are forever popular. As humans we are fascinated and fixated with stories about love. But we are restricted to stories about monogamous love. Our society rejects or avoids stories that suggest a kind of love that is other than monogamy, a love that is communal or shared.

Peterson forces us to question our previous stories of ideal romance, and begs us to reconsider our notions of what it really means to love someone. Peterson offers us an untold story, one about a love that is not easy, a love that is awkward, a love that takes time, energy, renegotiation, practice and patience. Peterson presents us with a story of imperfect love. She is not creating the perfect ‘dream’ romance. She is demonstrating a kind of love that is hesitant and unsure, but curious. I enjoyed the honesty and anxiety that comes when facing the unknown. Peterson successfully shakes up our contemporary idea of a ‘love story’, and I would recommend this novel to anyone who is hungry for a new kind of story and a different kind of representation. As a reader, I was left unsure of whether or not I was satisfied, which was a nice treat after years of ‘happy endings’.

Sonic Approved