How to Survive the Loss of a Love [Paperback]

Peter McWilliams (Author), Harold H. Bloomfield (Author), Melba Colgrove (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: October 1993

One of the most directly helpful books on the subject of loss ever written, the first edition of this comforting and inspiring book, published in 1976, sold nearly two million copies. This completely revised and expanded edition encompasses not only the medical and psychological advances in the treatment of loss, but also the authors' own experiences.

Product Details

• Paperback: 208 pages
• Publisher: Mary Book / Prelude Pr (October 1993)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0931580439
• ISBN-13: 978-0931580437
• Product Dimensions: 6.8 x 4.3 x 0.6 inches
• Shipping Weight: 4 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.8 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (223 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #2,264 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
  • #1 in Books > 4-for-3 Books > Health, Mind & Body > Relationships > Interpersonal Relations
  • #1 in Books > 4-for-3 Books > Health, Mind & Body > Mental Health > General
  • #1 in Books > 4-for-3 Books > Health, Mind & Body > Self-Help > General

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

165 of 168 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Emotional healing for broken hearts - excellent!, May 24, 2000

By 

Peter A. Kindle (Kansas City, Missouri) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: How to Survive the Loss of a Love (Paperback)

Let's face it, abandonment hurts. There would be more charity in murder. But, if your heart has been broken, if you are the one who wanted the relationship to work, if you are the one left behind - this is the perfect book for you. Buy it.

In it you will find short, one page chapters chock full of important reminders, proverbs, advice and practical suggestions. Throughout the message is constant - let yourself hurt, take responsibility for your own pain and your own healing, you will survive, you will smile again, life really is worth living.

Accompanying every chapter is a short, one page, free verse poem. Nothing has ever helped me feel more than these did.

I read most of this book while sitting in a city park one sunny, Sunday afternoon. All around me were families playing with their children. Inside I was bleeding, and frequently crying. It took at least two more years to get over being dumped, but my healing started that day. Maybe your's will, too.

53 of 53 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A True Lifesaver, May 3, 1999

By A Customer

This review is from: How to Survive the Loss of a Love (Paperback)

After a sudden and devastating breakup, this book was a God-send. I read it nearly every day for months. The authors provide very practical advice, and reassure the reader that his/her chaotic emotions are a natural part of the grieving (and healing) process. "How to Survive the Loss of a Love" is an essential purchase for anyone grieving a breakup or divorce.

62 of 63 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars This one really does help, September 13, 2006

By 

j michael rowland "j michael rowland" (Watertown, Tennessee, USA) - See all my reviews

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: How to Survive the Loss of a Love (Paperback)

I've ploughed through a spate of self-help books on this topic lately, and have written some scathing reviews; because all of them appeared to have their own agendas, and none of them seemed to help.

Until I found this one.

This book described to me EXACTLY what I was going through. It did not seek to reframe the experience within the author's religious views. It did not seek to impose a decision or a philosophy on me. It did not try to get me to DO anything. It simply described exactly what was happening, and it did it in a way that made it okay for me to feel the way I was feeling.

The book is formatted in pairs of facing pages. On the lefthand page is straightforward prose; on the righthand pages (with a few exceptions) are short, original poems. This presentation I found extremely powerful. The poems connect in a way that the prose can't; and the prose lends strength and validity and concrete information to the fellings expressed in the poetry. The combined effect is one of knowledge and empathy.

In other words, reading this book is like sitting down and talking with a wise, kind friend.

The writing style is sparse yet complete. It would pass any test that E.B. White could put to it. It is, in itself, enjoyable.

Reading the above, I find that my description is inadequate. If you are going through the loss of a loved one, or, in fact, any kind of a loss at all, this book will give you comfort... it will put things in perspective for you, without demeaning or trivializing your feelings, and it will leave you in a place from which you can move on.

j michael rowland