In Love
A Memoir of Love and Loss
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4.5 • 236 Ratings
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- $7.99
Publisher Description
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 TEN BEST BOOKS OF THE YEAR: Publishers Weekly
ONE OF THE BEST BOOKS OF THE YEAR: The New York Times Book Review, Time, Entertainment Weekly, NPR, The Washington Post, The Boston Globe, USA Today, Real Simple, Prospect (UK), She Reads, Kirkus Reviews
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.
Shortlisted for the Rathbones Folio Prize
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
Novelist Bloom (White Houses) looks back on the beauty and turmoil of accompanying her husband through the final days of his life in this deeply moving memoir. When her husband, Brian, was diagnosed with early onset Alzheimer's in 2019, he chose to end his life via assisted suicide at Dignitas in Switzerland. As Bloom writes, she worried "that a better wife, certainly a different wife, would have said no, would have insisted on keeping her husband in this world until his body gave out." But her love for Brian and his desire for a meaningful end of life drove their mutual agreement to take the steps for him to die on his own terms. With passion and sharp wit, she jumps back and forth between the beginning of their relationship, the Herculean effort it took to secure an agreement with Dignitas, and the painful anticipation of the final trip to Switzerland. Most poignant are the intimate moments they share as they make the most of their last days together. As she writes, "I imagine that Brian feels as alone as I do but I can tell he isn't as afraid." The result is a stunning portrayal of how love can reveal itself in life's most difficult moments.
Customer Reviews
Compelling and Provocative
I love how Amy Bloom writes. She is expressive but not maudlin and incredibly honest. The premise of her story is the decision by her husband to commit suicide after being diagnosed with early onset Alzheimer’s Dementia. The story moves back and forth from how they met, why she fell in love, her and his histories and a description of his deteriorating memory and cognitive abilities. He chooses not to deteriorate and she makes it her mission to assist him in finding the way to do so. She never waivers in her determination and focus and barely admits ever doubting their decision. I wonder if she underplays the benefit that accrued to her by not having to manage and care for a spouse facing such deterioration and a rapidly progressive dementia even as she rails against American laws prohibiting assisting a suicide and precluding mentally incompetent and depressed people from obtaining medically assisted suicide. Of course this is her story, beautifully told and compelling and not a dissertation on the morals, ethics and legality of assisted suicide. It does give one pause. I think everyone should read this and think about what they would do if faced with these circumstances.
Heart breaking reality
The book captures a profound journey of resilience and suffering, revealing the depth of the author’s experiences.
Beautiful and heartbreaking
Honest, pure, and enlightening. ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️