The Lessons of Love: Rediscovering Our Passion for Life When It All Seems Too Hard to Take (Paperback)

by Melody Beattie (Author) "IT'S A FRIDAY EVENING IN FEBRUARY 1991..." (more)
Key Phrases: Get Along Gang, Virgin Islands, African Gray

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly
Beattie ( Codependent No More ) here chronicles her grief over the death of her son Shane in a skiing accident in 1991; for two years she found herself unable to work. But with the help of family, friends and her own inner resources, she was finally able to put her life back together. Then, however, she was faced with another test: her daughter Nichole's alcoholism. But this time, from her reserves of spiritual strength, Beattie met the problem head-on. Convincing her daughter to enter a treatment center, she was able to forge a closer relationship between them. Beattie's inspiring message should bring hope to those who think that they "just can't take it any more." 200,000 first printing; author tour.
Copyright 1994 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

From Booklist
This is a book about what trendy therapist types like to call "grief work." It's the story of how Beattie, the most popular writer on the controversial new-psychotherapy phenomenon, codependency, got through the experience of her 12-year-old son's fatal skiing accident and its aftermath. Like so many others who've endured the loss of a loved one, she drifted and obsessed, became a trial for her friends to be with and a prey for hucksters taking advantage of her distraction. She got through it all by reconnecting with her capacity to love--much needed because her daughter, drinking and drugging, was in the throes of midteen meltdown. That she's led a generally more melodramatic life than many certainly helps her account sustain reader interest. Those going through similar crises will find companionship and perhaps even solace in her report. Ray Olson --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

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Product Details

• Paperback: 240 pages
• Publisher: HarperOne (April 28, 1995)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0062510789
• ISBN-13: 978-0062510785
• Product Dimensions: 7.1 x 4.8 x 0.8 inches
• Shipping Weight: 7.2 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.9 out of 5 stars See all reviews (14 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #194,699 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

20 of 21 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars A Journey, August 30, 2001

By	V. VanCamp "lovesbookslovesmusic" (Ithaca, New York USA) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

Melody Beattie writes a very compelling and heartfelt account of a painful journey through heartbreak. "The Lessons of Love" will touch your soul and your heart. Beautifully written.
The author takes us through her grieving process, her fight with wanting to live and her struggle learning to live again after a trajedy that completely knocks her off her feet.
This book contains tested truths on how to live and why we should live with gusto even after trajedy obstructs our view. Melody honestly and compelling shares with us her trials in darkness, her anger, her tears and her heartbreak. She also shares with us her learning, her hopefulness and her vision of magic.
This book is for those who look beneath the surface of life for those intricate nuances that make us all tick. I highly recommend this book to those of you who are searching and who long to discover some of life's mysteries. Though this book is deep, Melody writes in a very easy to read fashion. You will not get bogged down in big words and you will not need to read between the lines. Even though Melody's story is very sad in parts, this book is refreshingly real and clear.

11 of 12 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Truly a gift & written from the heart & soul., March 28, 1999

By	Chrissie - See all my reviews

This review is from: The Lessons of Love: Rediscovering Our Passion for Life When It All Seems Too Hard to Take (Walker Large Print Books) (Paperback)

I read the first few pages and didn't stop until I'd finished the whole entire book in one reading! I cried, I laughed, I shared in Melody's story, joys, sorrow, pain, hardships, and felt I took the journey with her and her family.

Melody writes from the heart and it must have been so painful and probably at the same time cleansing to write about her son's tragic accident [I cried so much at that part I couldn't see!]. This book is good for those who've suffered losses and hardships over and over and feel what is the point, what's the meaning of life etc ... as Melody so wonderfully and magically shares her story, she shares how there is a point to our lives, and that there is meaning and there is hope. You have to read the book to find out more! Melody says it just so beautifully.

It's a wonderful book which I will read and re-read again and again. I only wish that Shane's picture had been published in the book. Thank you Melody!

13 of 15 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Melody Beattie's most poignant work, January 15, 2004

By	Andrew Olivo Parodi (Oregon, United States) - See all my reviews (TOP 500 REVIEWER)

Melody Beattie is, of course, the author of the phenomenal bestseller CODEPENDENT NO MORE. Since the publication of that first book in the 1980s, many of us in the recovery movement have come to see her as something akin to a mother figure. We are therefore interested in her life, the challenges she faces, her insights, her introspections, her epiphanies, her triumphs. Melody's writing style is so warm and embracing that it often feels as though we are reading personal messages from a dear friend.

Personal messages do not usually constitute great literature. This is certainly the case with THE LESSONS OF LOVE. The story, her struggle to come to terms with the tragic death of her son Shane, is beautiful, heartfelt, and inspiring. It appeals to me in large part because I care about Melody Beattie as a person. I want to know how she coped with what must be the most painful situation any human being could find themselves in. I want to see her come through. I feel as though I have a relationship with her work. (When I was only 17, she personally replied to my letter regarding Codependents Anonymous groups. Her work has been important to me ever since.) But I definitely would not recommend THE LESSONS OF LOVE to a friend indifferent to the recovery scene. They would perhaps be put off by Melody's interweaving of her personal story with the pick-me-up tone of recovery prose. ("This book is my golden ring for you," she says to the reader in the introduction.)

So, whether you appreciate THE LESSONS OF LOVE may be gauged by how you feel about the genre that Melody Beattie has helped define. This is the closest I've ever seen her come to conventional storytelling, but it is unmistakable that it belongs in the self-help/recovery/personal empowerment section of the bookstore. If you do not find yourself drawn to that section, then you may not appreciate this book. If, however, you are like me, love this genre, view Melody Beattie as a source of comfort, then THE LESSONS OF LOVE is a highly recommended.

Andrew Parodi