In Love
Ratings8
Average rating4.5
15
Ratings8
Average rating4.5
NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER • A powerful memoir of a love that leads two people to find a courageous way to part—and a woman’s struggle to go forward in the face of loss—that “enriches the reader’s life with urgency and gratitude” (The Washington Post) “A pleasure to read . . . Rarely has a memoir about death been so full of life. . . . Bloom has a talent for mixing the prosaic and profound, the slapstick and the serious.”—USA Today ONE OF THE BEST BOOKS OF THE YEAR: NPR Amy Bloom began to notice changes in her husband, Brian: He retired early from a new job he loved; he withdrew from close friendships; he talked mostly about the past. Suddenly, it seemed there was a glass wall between them, and their long walks and talks stopped. Their world was altered forever when an MRI confirmed what they could no longer ignore: Brian had Alzheimer’s disease. Forced to confront the truth of the diagnosis and its impact on the future he had envisioned, Brian was determined to die on his feet, not live on his knees. Supporting each other in their last journey together, Brian and Amy made the unimaginably difficult and painful decision to go to Dignitas, an organization based in Switzerland that empowers a person to end their own life with dignity and peace. In this heartbreaking and surprising memoir, Bloom sheds light on a part of life we so often shy away from discussing—its ending. Written in Bloom’s captivating, insightful voice and with her trademark wit and candor, In Love is an unforgettable portrait of a beautiful marriage, and a boundary-defying love.
Reviews with the most likes.
Moving, compelling, captivating, heartbreaking. Audiobook perfectly narrated by the author.
My guess is that writing this book was an enormously helpful way of coping with the experience of accompanying her husband on his journey. It's an important story, beautifully told.
A moving, heartfelt, but courageously honest memoir about Amy Bloom's lived experience, from her first realization that her beloved husband, Brian, was showing symptoms of early-onset Alzheimer's through the devastating diagnosis and finally, his decision to choose assisted suicide through Dignitas, an organization in Zurich, Switzerland that empowers a person to end their own life with dignity and peace. She supported him throughout the process even as she jumped through legal red-tape and frustrating obstacles to make it happen, while occasionally succumbing to overwhelming grief at the thought of letting him go.
This was a blisteringly moving account, brutal to read but so necessary in today's world. It's a love story of a woman who cared enough to let her partner die peacefully rather than force him to tolerate gradual deterioration and humiliation. You will find yourself wishing for a different outcome even though you know what is coming, you will find yourself crying as you imagine the scenario with your own loved ones, and you will thank whoever urged you to read this unforgettable and important book.
My thanks to NetGalley for letting me read an advanced reader copy of this memoir that releases coincidentally on the same day as my own debut, March 8, 2022.
