Customer Reviews

Love Life

5 star:		(7)
4 star:		(2)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(2)

 

 

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!

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.

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.

I started reading this book and couldn't put it down. First of all, the USA prudes need to remember that it's a different world in Europe in dealing with sexuality, especially in the Netherlands. Obviously the author takes his extra-marital relationships to extremes, but the point of the story is his undying love for his first wife and how he manages to cope with her impending death and caring for her regardless how horrible her illness eventually becomes. I can't say I "enjoyed" this book because of the subject matter, but this story moved me deeply and one I'll not forget anytime soon.

I read this book on a flight home from China a year ago and it still remains the only book I can remember touching me on such an extreme level. I must have been hiding behind my tears the entire flight.

If you are a person who lacks tolerance and understanding of human emotions and the fact that they are not always controllable or morally "right," this book may not be for you as some of the reviews suggest. I, however, applaud the author's honesty. It is beautifully written, a page-turner and an eye-opener.

I borrowed this book from the library just on chance alone. I have never heard of it before but just grabbed a random book off the shelf. I plan to purchase this book! I enjoyed it thouroghly from beginning to it's heart wrenching end. I think I cried for the last 30 pages of the book. Although some may feel the author is a "scum-bag", which I believe he acknowledges himself, the book is well written, painfully truthful and I could relate to them all. I haven't read a book in a long time that made me really feel something. Read the book with an open mind - especially since the author resides in Amsterdam and that is probably the most liberal city anywhere around!!

Emotional book where you get sympathie for both wife, who is terminal ill with breast cancer, and husband who needs a distraction in this whole period of illness and hospital visits.
Also one off the best Dutch movies made lately!!!!

I am a member of an international book club.It was my turn to choice a book. I am Ducth, so came up with this book. I had problems in the beginning with the way his was openly writing about his sexlive. But we all agreed,it is a very good book, you can not lay it down.
Many events in life came up and we were all sharing emotions that came up after reading this book. At he end we all had tears in our eyes.

This is the only book I have ever read where I truly felt connected to the characters. I think that so often people try to paint a prettier picture rather than being absolutely honest and it shows because it doesn't feel real. This story felt so real. Many times when telling stories such as this one, authors will sugarcoat situations, or leave out details that could paint themselves in a bad light, but the author chose to tell his story exactly as he lived it, despite negative consequences. I liked that. I liked understanding what this was like for him as he lived it, and not the way it "should" be. It was sad, but brutally honest.

What an absolutely pathetic story. It is rare that I finish a novel thinking what an jerk the author is. If that's his view on the world, he has my pity.