Love Life [Paperback]

Ray Kluun (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: July 24, 2007

Dan and Carmen have it all, it seems: They are young, rich, good-looking, satisfied in their work and love life, and are the parents of a beautiful three-year-old daughter. When Carmen is diagnosed with breast cancer, Dan is unable to cope with her illness and the changes this brings to their happy, yuppie family life. While the beautiful and optimistic Carmen submits to chemotherapy and eventually a mastectomy, hedonistic Dan tries to find solace with his buddies and in several flings before he finally stops running away and succeeds in supporting Carmen in her decision to end her life with dignity. Love Life is an account of a terminal illness that is devoid of glitz or fake sentiment. Distressing hospital situations and spot-on characterizations of doctors and therapists alternate with the many heart-wrenching moments through the course of Carmen's illness, as both she and Dan come to terms with what commitment really means. Love Life is completely unapologetic, extremely controversial, but ultimately uplifting and life-affirming.

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

In the Dutch Kluun's brutal roman à clef, Dan and Carmen van Diepen are successful professionals in their 30s, raising their young daughter in Amsterdam's suburbs while still partying zestfully, when Carmen's diagnosis with an aggressive form of breast cancer puts her life on hold. Dan, who narrates, soon rages against the incompetence and insensitivity of the doctors treating Carmen, and the couple alternate between manic joy and terror as they realize Carmen won't live to see their daughter, Luna, grow up. At the same time, confirmed club hound Dan pursues numerous infidelities, comments on his greatly diminished affection for his stricken wife and offers few apologies. As Carmen grows increasingly ill, they learn to forgive each other's faults, and Dan takes on the heavy burden of Carmen's decline. The final chapters find Carmen, Dan and their colorful cohort of yuppie friends pulling together to support Carmen's decision to end her life with dignity. Kluun's novel was a bestseller in Europe, and the translation is poignant, humorous and very graphic on the cancer. Kluun's take on marriage may be too European for the States, but his lacerating portraits of the medical establishment will certainly hit home. (Aug.)
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From Booklist

In this wrenching, humorous, compelling novel based on his wife's death at 36 from breast cancer, Kluun turns on a dime. Reacting to wife Carmen's anxiety about chemo baldness, husband Dan is at first wry, but then desolation sets in: Carmen is afraid of losing her breast. I'm afraid of losing the Carmen I know. A lonely anxiety I don't share with anyone. Maybe I attach more importance to Carmen's breast than I do to Carmen's life? The many side effects of chemo—the body's protest against it—ultimately aren't as bad as the increasingly painful and difficult insertions of needle and tube. Throughout, Carmen's spirit surprises. When her swelling belly (a side effect) conjures thoughts of shopping for maternity clothes, We're hoping for a boy, she ironically gushes. She leaves Dan when he drunkenly crashes the car after carousing with other women, but reconciles with him, chooses euthanasia, welcomes final visitors, and says good-bye. Scott, Whitney

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Product Details

• Paperback: 368 pages
• Publisher: St. Martin's Griffin; First Edition edition (July 24, 2007)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0312366817
• ISBN-13: 978-0312366810
• Product Dimensions: 8.2 x 5.8 x 1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 11.2 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 3.9 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (12 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #943,816 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Journey with cancer and love, October 3, 2007

By 

Littlet T "Tra" (Cypress, Texas) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Love Life (Paperback)

What an intriguing journey first with a married man going through his darkest hours with his wife being diagnosed with terminal cancer. He is no saint by any means and comes to terms with himself and his relationship with his wife. We also go through the journey the wife makes throughout the book to come to terms with the word cancer to the inevitable words "terminal cancer". What a strong insightful women the wife is. The fight and will to live, the day to day struggles, the uncertain future, their small toddler and what the future lies with just the man and his daughter. The struggle, the fight, the cancer, what the body endures......such a great book!

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Painfully honest, July 6, 2008

By 

Paloma Almeida (Rio de Janeiro, Brazil) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Love Life (Paperback)

I am very surprised by the low rating and the remarks I have read here about this book. Not because the book is not controversial, but because it is very well written, surprisingly (and painfully) honest and very original on top of that. The subject matter is very polemic, but I am sorry to see that some of the voters can not see past the first layer of the story line and subsequently vote low for a book they even enjoyed. Does the fact that the book is based on a real life story make it less valuable than fiction? This book is originally written in Dutch (Komt een vrouw bij de dokter). For most Dutch people it is very hard to believe such narrowmindedness.

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Great book that made me cry, January 1, 2009

By 

Sarita (the Netherlands) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Love Life (Paperback)

I could not put this book down and finished it very fast after starting it.
If you want to read something upbeat, don't pick up this book. If you have a soul you will cry while reading this book. It's painful, beautiful and yes you do get angry at the main character for his behaviour but for me that didn't take away from quality of the book.