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Many Love

A Memoir of Polyamory and Finding Love(s)

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About The Book

“A fast-paced debut… A candid, modern take on polyamory for fans of memoirs and graphic novels, and anyone interested in stories of dating, love, and romance.” —Library Journal

After trying for years to emulate her boomer parents’ forty-year and still-going-strong marriage, Sophie realized that maybe the love she was looking for was down a road less traveled. In this bold, graphic memoir, she explores her sexuality, her values, and the versions of love our society accepts and practices. Along the way, she shares what it’s like to play on Tinder side-by-side with your boyfriend, encounter—and surmount—many types of jealousy, learn the power of female friendship, and other amazing things that happened when she stopped looking for “the one.”

In a lot of ways, Many Love is Sophie’s love letter to everyone she has ever cared for. Witty, insightful, and complete with illustrations, this debut provides a memorable glimpse into an unconventional life.

Excerpt

Many Love INTRODUCTION Choose Your Own Romantic Adventure
My boyfriend and I were on our third date with another couple when our cat Jean died.

That’s not quite accurate: we were chopping up cucumbers and avocadoes for a romantic DIY sushi night with Tony and Meg when our cat’s legs collapsed beneath him. I met Meg through work—a place where you are traditionally quiet about being in the kind of relationship in which you and your partner could be dating another couple. But after I left my job, Meg and I stayed friends on Facebook, and Facebook is a considerably less private sphere. On social media, I’m out as being polyamorous—that is to say, I practice ethical, consensual nonmonogamy. Meg messaged me one night to tell me that she was poly, too. “Let’s be friends, possibly?” she wrote. “Or feel free to ignore this message; I promise not to find it rude if you choose to.”

Meg had been my superior at work, and from the moment I met her I had a big, fat, unprofessional crush on her. She wrote scathing, intelligent news analyses (superhot when you’re a writer), and she had a dexterity to her walk; later I would find out she was into circus arts and acroyoga. So, months later, after I’d left the job and figured I would probably never see Meg again, I was dizzy to get a message from her. I responded that, uh, yes, we should totally be friends, I mean, ha ha, I’m not weirdly eager or anything; I’m, like, superbusy, but if she wanted to, you know, I would like to . . . whatever. Somehow, through the grace of the universe, this rambling spurt of a reply didn’t drive Meg away, and a few weeks later, she came over for dinner.

At dinner, I tried to act cool and look Meg in the eye a few times, but it was difficult, because she was even more beautiful and interesting than I had remembered her being. Luckily, my boyfriend, Luke, was also there, and he quelled the tension. He’s a pro at asking good questions (“What’s the weirdest thing you’ve ever done for love?”)—it’s one of the things I loved the most about him when we met. Regardless of the presence of a third person, though, I still felt like I was on a date with Meg. Luke knew I had a crush on her; if she didn’t know I had a crush on her, then she was (mercifully) ignoring a few pretty obvious signs. I think the vibe was felt around the table.



We went to the sex party, which was amazing. I’m sure you have a lot of questions about the sex party (such as, “What is a sex party, exactly?”), and I promise that, eventually, I will answer them. But this part of the book is about my cat, who left the world before his time, and the people who were there to care for us in his wake.

At the sex party, we met Tony, who is one of Meg’s partners (the one she lives with). We also, technically, met Meg’s other partner and a host of people Meg dates or has dated or plays with from time to time. But Luke and I both felt drawn to Tony, who was refreshingly forthcoming. A week later, Meg asked if Luke and I wanted to go on a date with her and Tony, and we both thought that sounded great.

If I had been nervous about my friendly initial dinner with dreamy Meg, I was a wreck about going on an actual date with her and her partner. It was especially terrifying to embark on dating another couple as a couple—territory neither Luke nor I had any practice with or guidelines for. At the end of the date, if I wanted to kiss Meg or Tony or both of them, did I ask? Did we all have to kiss the first kiss together, in a kind of Spring Break–style quadrilateral?

The date was really like any other date: We ate dinner and learned about one another. We asked questions about childhood; we told stories about past loves. There was kissing at the end, and while I’d love to get into that right now in detail, I’m telling you about this date right here and now only because I want you to know, at least marginally, the nature of our relationship with Meg and Tony before I tell you about the night Jean passed away.

Everything was nearly ready for our date that night: the sushi rice had been cooked and was cooling, and the seaweed was artfully arranged on a red plate. I’d even tempered some chocolate and was dipping butter cookies in it for dessert. When Jean’s legs collapsed, I called the vet, hoping he would say something like, “Oh, yeah, cats’ legs collapse all the time. That’s normal. Give him three sips of water and he should be good as new.” But instead, he said that we needed to take him to the emergency room immediately. So Luke got the cat carrier, and I called Meg.



I should pause to say that while people who have cats are generally a little crazy about them, I am high on the spectrum of this feline-related lunacy. I buy food for my cats that costs significantly more than the food I buy for myself. When I go out of town, I call the cat sitter and ask to speak to my cats on the phone. Jean was one of a pair; Puppy, the other cat, seemed deeply troubled by Jean’s sudden collapse, and that felt like another major crisis that had to be dealt with.

“Come over,” I told Meg distantly. “Call Tony and tell him what happened, and when you get here, we’ll sort it out.”

I told Luke to take Jean to the vet and to call me when he got there, and we would go from there.

When she came into the apartment, Meg didn’t even take off her coat before she held me tightly in her arms. “What do you need,” she said, making it a statement, not a question; like she was going to do whatever it took to make this situation better and easier. I didn’t have words. I just let her hold my hands.

Tony arrived just as Luke called from the vet. I shut myself in the bedroom and took in the bad news: it was a heart condition, and it was serious, and they didn’t know if Jean would make it.

When I left the bedroom to tell Meg and Tony, I couldn’t get the words out.



The second time I said it, Meg seemed to grasp the subtext: I needed them to stay. I needed someone to be with Puppy; I needed someone to hold us to the ground.

Tony and Meg made the sushi. When we had to pay an ungodly amount of money for the procedures Jean required, I called Meg and had her find my emergency credit card and read the number to me over the phone. When we got home, exhausted, defeated, and in total despair, they were still there. They stayed. They cleaned. When they finally left, holding us both a little longer than normal during their good-byes, I thought to myself, “This is what love is.”

About The Author

Emily Rich

Sophie Lucido Johnson is a writer, illustrator, comedian, and the editor-in-chief of Neutrons Protons, an online literary magazine. She has been published in The New Yorker, Guernica, The Guardian, VICE, Catapult, DAME, McSweeney’s, Jezebel, The Hairpin, The Nation, and ROOKIE, among others. She has just completed an MFAW at the School of the Art Institute of Chicago. Many Love is her first book. 

Product Details

  • Publisher: Gallery Books (June 26, 2018)
  • Length: 272 pages
  • ISBN13: 9781501189784

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Raves and Reviews

“[A] refreshingly candid and provocative narrative… [T]he author adds a dash of humor and incisive observation to almost every page of her text with comic book-style drawings… Johnson's multipronged approach not only demystifies a much-maligned and misunderstood practice; it also makes for enjoyable, accessible reading. Illuminating and entertaining.”—Kirkus Review

"Sophie Lucido Johnson is funny, feminist, smart, and, annoyingly, a very talented illustrator to boot. Many Love is a compassionate and convincing love story, and a must-read for anyone who feels left out by our culture's one-size-fits-all, heterosexual, monogamous norms."—Katie Heaney, author of Never Have I Ever and Would You Rather?

“In this candid memoir, Johnson delivers a combination of humorous illustrations, personal experience, and even a section to answer questions, to chart her journey to polyamory and debunk myths about her choice.”—Bitch Media

“Johnson has created an unjaded portrait of “unconventional” love, and reading it feels like you’ve both been introduced to a new, exceedingly cool best friend and granted access to a kind of interpersonal, anthropological wisdom that will cause you to reevaluate every preconceived ideal you had about family and commitment. To call Many Love compulsively readable is a gross understatement. This book will split you wide open.”—Kristen Radtke, author of Imagine Wanting Only This

"Many Love may be about polyamory, but it's just like any touching coming of age story - just with a bit of a different inter-personal structure. Warm, revealing and honest, it's a welcoming read, no matter what structure for love you have in your life."—Jen A Miller, author of Running: A Love Story

"Many Love is funny, poignant and valuable for any person interested in relationships—be it with lovers, friends, or oneself. With a beautiful intertwining of words and pictures, of thoughts and ideas, Sophie Lucido Johnson has crafted a personal story that's universally applicable. I have many loves for Many Love."—Myq Kaplan

"Sophie Lucido Johnson’s Many Love is completely delightful. Smart, sparkly and kind, like a great conversation with an old friend. Johnson brings sanity, perspective and wit to her examination of the propaganda that surrounds traditional romance, and offers a well-considered way of reinventing it."—Liana Finck, author of Passing for Human

“A fast-paced debut… Discussing her adulthood in New Orleans and Chicago, the author is refreshingly honest about meeting people on Tinder and Craigslist and seeking to redefine the meaning of partner and commitment… A candid, modern take on polyamory for fans of memoirs and graphic novels, and anyone interested in stories of dating, love, and romance.”—Library Journal

“Johnson uses her own life as the framing device to gently bring readers into understanding polyamory… Whether readers pick up Many Love because they want to explore polyamory for themselves or just want to learn more, Johnson’s story offers insight for everyone as we all explore what it means to be in relation to one another."—Culture Trip

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