Again Heartbeat memoir dating ebook
I loved this book for so many reasons, the top ones being how the author showed what romance really means. I've always thought romance was over-hyped in our culture, and I've kind of scoffed at it. What this book shows is what romance looks like in a marriage, in practice. The other main reason I give this book 5 stars is for its craft. There is this wonderful juxtaposition of the author's news style of writing (she was a reporter for many years) that, combined with such highly dramatic life events, keep the book from becoming overly sentimental. This is a love story that has staying power; lines and scenes will stay with me for years to come. I also work in cancer care marketing, so many of the insights in this story will be folded into my daily work. A highly recommended read.
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Susan Weidener crafts a well-paced, engaging and believable memoir about love, loss and starting over in Again in a Heartbeat. I was immediately drawn into her story by her clear and honest voice as she recalls her first meeting with John, the man she will marry and have two children with. By weaving in the small details that matter, she brings John and their love alive on the page. This is not a sappy love story but a raw review of her life experiences with John, including the not-so-pretty parts of dealing with his mother who one day shows her disapproval by lunging at her with a saber she had pulled off the wall. When John is diagnosed with terminal cancer we share in the terror of losing someone we love. Her portrayal of the challenges inherent in dealing with this is gripping. We feel the frustration and pain of unspoken feelings. As a nurse practitioner, I want to reach out and tell them both to share their feelings with one another. We feel her angst and fears and see how they take her to uncomfortable places like being attracted to other men out of desperation for her own unmet needs. With honesty and courage, she pours out her wide range of feelings in a confessional fashion. This memoir goes beyond a love story to provide a realistic guide for anyone who is facing the potential loss of a partner through illness. She brings us through the crisis of losing John and begins to move on in her life with her two sons. Leaving us with a sense of hope and renewal, she shows us that despite this profound loss, she would "do it again in a heartbeat." Her memoir is a testimony to the love she and John shared and to the hope of moving on after a loved one has died as well as a guide for anyone who has loved and lost.
BalasHapusSusan Weidener's memoir reads like a good novel. Again in a Heartbeat is a heartbreaking account of Susan's love, loss and dating again following the death of her husband from cancer. She describes with honesty, but without whining or melodrama, the ordeal she and her husband John endured and the impact on their marriage, and then goes beyond the grief she suffered into her new life as a single parent to two boys. Her achievement in rising above the grief and starting a new life for herself is tremendously uplifting to the reader, after enduring with her the heartbreaking loss that she suffered. In the end, this is not so much a story of the death of a spouse, but a love story. Susan was a journalist, a profession which provided the discipline to write a well crafted story. Her ability to express beautifully her feelings of love and anger and a wide range of other emotions upon falling in love and then learning that her husband was dying of cancer showcases her talent to write an engaging, sometimes heartbreaking, but in the end, uplifting story. I was completely engaged even though I knew the outcome. The fact that the story is true, as well as beautifully written, makes it all the more engaging. Susan's honesty in expressing her own weaknesses is courageous. She goes so deeply into her own psyche that I as a reader feel that I know her, like I know a close friend. When I finished, I was ready for the sequel, which fortunately came along soon.
BalasHapusThis memoir of love, loss and dating again following the death of the author's young husband is a stellar read that I highly recommend. The story chronicles the ordeal that Susan's young family endured and moves beyond grief to Susan's journey as a single parent and dating again in search of happiness and meaning. Susan draws upon her writing expertise to craft multi-sensory language that lifts the reader into the drama of the story.
BalasHapus
BalasHapusSusan Weidener has a gift of being honest and authentic in sharing her own story of love and loss. Her memoir is eye-opening, and touches upon the reactions and intense emotions a wife and mother must feel when her spouse is dying. This is not another "sad" story, and Weidener manages to add humor into the "dating again" part of her moving-on journey.
BalasHapusI read Susan Weidener's beautifully written memoir through the eyes of a romantic and a therapist.
BalasHapusWhen Susan and John met it was love at first sight. He was all she hoped for,and the feeling was mutual. It seemed like the future held a long and happy life together for this fortunate couple.
Most marriages face challenges but few are tested as early and as severely as theirs. A life-threatening illness can break the very marrow of a couple's love and committment. Ms. Weidener does not hold back about the rough patchs they went through. Susan's honesty about her feelings about John's cancer is courageous, and her ability to share her pain with John and his willingness to listen was a testament to their deep love.
Today most professionals treating terminal illnesses realize they have more than one patient...the whole family suffers. I wish both John and Susan had someone to talk to then...perhaps if they did, this couple could have drawn even closer through the most difficult stage of their marriage, the end. You see many patients want to spare their loved ones the pain of final separation, so they withdraw emotionally. Unless that behavior is explained, a partner and family members are frequently left feeling confused and rejected.
"Again in a Heartbeat" gives therapists an excellent tool for opening up dialogue between couples coping with serious illness. Perhaps by writing about their experience, Ms. Weidener will help other couples understand and resist the dynamic which can leave one of them feeling alone.
"Again in a Heartbeat" tells the story of how Susan finds true love with John only to have their love, marriage and life torn apart far too soon when he gets cancer.
BalasHapusSome memoirists sugarcoat their own emotional shortcomings. But Weidener didn't pull any punches in laying out her own anger, hurt and need as she watches her husband die. She also shares the painful path to dating again, as she seeks to find another love equal to what she shared with her husband. The problem is that she's forgotten what she learned about herself living with a man who loved and respected her for the strong woman she was. Only when she remembers that can she truly move on.
Weidener's journalism skills are evident as she uses them to tell her story with honesty, precision and clarity. The spare journalistic style of writing renders the emotion even more powerful.
I loved this book for so many reasons, the top ones being how the author showed what romance really means. I've always thought romance was over-hyped in our culture, and I've kind of scoffed at it. What this book shows is what romance looks like in a marriage, in practice. The other main reason I give this book 5 stars is for its craft. There is this wonderful juxtaposition of the author's news style of writing (she was a reporter for many years) that, combined with such highly dramatic life events, keep the book from becoming overly sentimental. This is a love story that has staying power; lines and scenes will stay with me for years to come. I also work in cancer care marketing, so many of the insights in this story will be folded into my daily work. A highly recommended read.
BalasHapus