New York Times best-selling author Amy Bloom has a new memoir out. In Love tells the story of how to move forward when faced with incalculable loss. When Amy’s husband Brian starts acting erratically, the diagnosis is Alzheimer’s.

Amy’s husband, an architect, an active person, and possessing the physique of a former football player, starts to forget things. He misremembers his book club dates, the names of the people in the club, and whether one has moved away. Amy chalks this up to tension or simply forgetfulness. He retires early from his University Architect job, one that he could do in his sleep. It turns out his contract was not renewed to do problems in getting the work done. It’s only at this point that Amy realizes how bad the situation has become.

Told from two different timelines Amy recounts when she realizes Brian’s tension and forgetfulness is something far more serious than she realized. She then counts down from the diagnosis of Alzheimer’s to the decision to go to Dignatus where they specialize in “accompanied suicide”. One timeline goes up until the diagnosis and documenting their marriage together. The other is from the decision for Dignatus and the hoops they have to go through to get approved. It is an arduous process to be accepted and be allowed to die on one’s own terms. The discussion before that decision is very difficult where they discuss how Brian could kill himself or how others could kill him and not go to jail. The story is about strength, perseverance, and above all love.

The story is both parts uplifting and tragic. Amy Bloom gets to tell the story of their marriage along with the unbearable pain of losing a spouse so soon. She has even begun to lose him before the diagnosis. At the end of the story, she gets to tell the very beginning of their story juxtaposing Brian’s memorial service with their wedding day. A fully emotional and deep story about their love.

Amy Bloom is not writing about fictional characters in this heartbreaking, moving and extremely well written work. Instead the novelist tells a story that is as impactful as any of those that came from her imagination. In some ways, she asks her readers to think about the unthinable.

This book relates what happened when the author’s husband was diagnosed with Alzheimer’s. Brian knew that he wanted to end his life. As this is not currently possible in most of the U.S., he wanted to go to Dignitas in Switzerland where assisted suicide is a choice. Bloom recounts her and Brian’s experiences, the emotional impact of the decision, the story of their relationship and the poignancy of their last days. Readers will also spend time with the author as she begins to experience her life without Brian.

Many will be touched by this book. I think that it will resonate and also open some hearts and minds.

This is an unforgettable book. Publishers Weekly states: “The result is a stunning portrayal of how love can reveal itself in life’s most difficult moments.” I definitely agree.

Many thanks to NetGalley and Random House Publishing Group for this title. All opinions are my own.

Amy Bloom shares her grief and pain in the very personal memoir IN LOVE. I learned a lot about assisted suicide and am not adverse to it as a solution to pain and suffering.

My problem was I never connected with Amy and her husband, Brian but was very saddened by their situation. Perhaps at another time in my life I might be able to feel more of a connection to them as a couple but it just didi not resonate with me at this time.

What a beautiful book! I've read some of Amy Bloom's fiction but this book was a whole other level. I can't imagine how difficult it was to live through the events portrayed in this lovely book and then to relive them in order to share with a wider audience. Bloom does a fantastic job of sharing both the sadness and devastation of her husband's diasnosis and decision alongside the love they continued to share with each other. She is so honest and forthright about her own feelings, she doesn't sugar coat her own shortcomings (and her relief when it is all over).

A heartbreaking but also uplifting (in a strange way) story from a fantastic writer. I highly recommend!!

This is Amy Bloom at her best. She is wise and insightful, even at the most difficult times. It is a beautiful book about a heartbreaking decision.

wow what a powerful book. So well written and heartbreaking I couldn't put it down. Such a sad story and one that teaches us so many things. Kudos

Thanks to NetGalley for allowing me to read this book in exchange for an honest review.

So heartbreaking and so beautifully written. The author’s husband, when diagnosed with Alzheimer’s and not wanting to go through such a devastating decline, has decided he would like someone to help end his life. But how and where can you do this legally? They found the answer in Switzerland, and the author writes about their history together and journey to saying goodbye in a beautiful way. I also enjoyed the length of the “chapters”. Highly recommend this one, but make sure you have tissues handy.

A lovely book and one that will bring attention to the ultimately huge level of humanity we are showing people when we allow them to choose to end their life on their own terms. I recently lost a family member after a long decline due to Alzheimer's and this was a lovely book to read after that experience.

Thank you to netgalley for providing an e-galley for review. In Love tells the tale of a couple that had their life turned upside down by a medical diagnosis. This book shares love, heartache and a descent into Alzheimer's that few do. Amy discusses the hoops she and Brian had to jump through in order to fulfill Brian's wish to end his life with Dignitas in Switzerland, instead of declining and disappearing "naturally". Ultimately this is a book about human relationships and how far we will go for the ones we love.

This was an emotional read from beginning to end. The author does an amazing job of sharing her husband’s experience from being diagnosed with Alzheimer’s through the decision to choose death in a dignified and intentional manner. You get glimpses of life before the diagnosis as well as how Amy responds to her husband, Brian, once they are aware of his condition. The way they travel together through the effect the disease has on Brian, the struggles they experience, the effort put into being permitted to have an assisted suicide, etc. are admirable. Amy Bloom does not paint herself as a saint. She is open and honest about her response to Brian and the many people who become part of his life because of Alzheimer’s and his choice of assisted suicide. She shares her pain, her anger, her frustration, her impatience, her never ending attempts to fulfill her husband’s final wish ... all while the tears flow down her face. This was an informative book, but the personal aspects are what made it a moving read.

Thank you to NetGalley and Random House for my advanced review copy. All opinions and thoughts are my own.

After an Alzheimer's diagnosis, Amy Bloom's husband is determined to end his life on his own terms rather than endure ten or twenty years of progressive deterioration. Bloom is tasked with the arduous process of researching what that means and what is needed to proceed accordingly. This book chronicles the early decline of a larger-than-life man and the author's unfiltered account of how this change impacts their relationship of fifteen years, as well as how it impacts her. I have always enjoyed Bloom's fiction writing, but this memoir may be her most remarkable in all of its heartbreaking beauty.

Thanks to NetGalley for the ARC!

I believe I first became aware of Dignitas, a Swiss organization that provides “accompanied death”—i.e., euthanasia—to those of sound mind who wish to end their lives, in Richard B. Wright’s 2007 book <u>October.</u> That novel revolves around a character who is asked to travel to Switzerland with a now terminally ill man he knew in his youth. Amy Bloom’s memoir, focusing on her accompaniment of her husband, Brian Ameche, deals with another kind of “terminal illness.” Diagnosed with early-onset Alzheimer’s in his mid-sixties (and believed to have had the condition for the preceding three years), Brian resolves almost immediately to end his own life before the inevitable full erasure of self occurs. His determination is clear and unflagging; however, he needs his wife to manage the project as his memory and executive function fail.

Bloom structures her memoir around the four days the two spend in Zurich that lead up to and include Brian’s drinking the lethal sodium pentobarbital cocktail that bring his life to an end. Chapters about their time in Switzerland are interspersed with sections explaining the process and documentation Dignitas requires of its applicants, as well as details of Bloom and Ameche’s fifteen-year marriage, Brian’s diagnosis, and the challenges of dealing with someone with this devastating condition.

I have read a number of memoirs about Alzheimer’s Disease. This one is unique in that it addresses the lack of options available to those who wish to forego “the long goodbye.” Bloom says Brian wanted her to write about their experience, yet the book feels less a passionate plea for this option to be available to Americans than a document testifying to the challenges families face when they have to jump through so many hurdles and travel so far to meet death on their own terms.

Thank you to Net Galley and the publisher for providing me with a digital copy for review purposes.

What an eye-opening, beautiful memoir about Bloom helping her husband die on his own terms when he is diagnosed with Alzheimers. Anyone who has watched a loved one mentally deteriorate from illness will connect with this book and the decision that Bloom and her husband decided to make. The focus on the happiness and love in their family make a book that could be very sad an overall joyful book to read.

Told in the voice of the author, Amy Bloom, we watch the journey of a couple fighting the heartbreaking reality of Alzheimer's. We get a front row seat to the all the feelings that Amy goes through as she and her husband walk the journey of assisted suicide.

This was a painful story to tell and I can't imagine taking this walk. While I don't agree with their decision, I can appreciate the open honesty that she shares while making this difficult choice. At times I did a feel a disconnect emotionally, but that could be more coping mechanism for her- the story felt anecdotal instead of personal. I didn't feel as though I knew either person very well by the end, so maybe that is partly where the disconnect stems from as well.

Again, I appreciate her willingness to share. Just didn't work quite as well for me. Vacillating between 2 and 3 stars.

Thanks to NetGalley and Random House for an ARC in exchange for my honest review.

* Thanks to NetGalley for an ARC in exchange for an honest review.*

Unsparing, honest, heartfelt, poignant, yet never tips into pathos.

Amy and Brian are cuddled up in a business-class flight to Zurich. They drink champagne, stay in a 5-star hotel, binge on chocolates and long walks. It sounds like a celebration. But three years earlier, 12 years into Amy Bloom and Brian Ameche's middle-aged marriage, Brian began to struggle at work. He forgot things, names, appointments, where local things are. Things that used to light him up didn't any more; he made odd purchases, started calling all four of his step-granddaughters "darling" instead of by their names. Finally, Brian - the admiring, engaged reader of all Amy's writing - leaves a script forgotten on the floor, and confesses he just couldn't follow it very well... The neurocognitive tests are clear: Brian has early-onset Alzheimer's. Brian exits the neurologist's office with his mind made up: he will go out while still on his feet, not wait till he is on his knees. And Amy will figure it out for him.

She does. And this book tells us how. The doctor's appointments, the psychiatric evaluations, the nearly obsessive watching of films and videos about Alzheimer's (Amy rolls them in furtive fits and starts when Brian isn't home), the internet trolling, the collapses into grief, fear, exhaustion, resentments, and great waves of love - for Brian, for family, for friends, the kids. The quest leads them to the Swiss organization Dignitas - the only way there is for an American to privately, peacefully, painlessly and legally end their life of their own accord, on their own terms, with medical aid, sympathy, and respect. Even those states with right-to-die laws have requirements of residency, a confirmed terminal diagnosis and life expectancy of less than 6 months (Alzheimer's can take years to finally put you out), restrictions on appropriate drugs, and other barriers. A friend of mine has said, "I figure as long as I have a car and a garage, I have a way," but Bloom learns that with the advent of pollution controls and catalytic converters, even that may not work.

Dignitas it is. Screening is careful, many many documents are required; a wrongly categorized diagnostic code for an MRI nearly scuttles the whole thing, until Bloom's heroic therapist steps in; a supportive sibling provides unstinting financial and emotional support - as do family members and friends on all sides. Bloom herself is a clinical social worker by training and practice, and perhaps a certain amount of... not distancing, but realistic, clear-eyed observation of what's happening to her and Brian enabled her to write this experience with truth. She acknowledges failures, needs, frustrations, and fears; discusses how they decide what they will tell the young granddaughters about why their Babu didn't come home from that trip. There is little in the way of polemics about why a voluntary death of this nature is made so difficult; simply telling their story in unvarnished, clean prose says all that needs to be said, and shows us how one couple made their way to the quiet, decent ending they sought and deserved.

An elegant, brave addition to the literature of terminal illness and death.

I'm a little behind in posting this book review since the book came out earlier this month, but here it is: Amy Bloom's new book In Love came out earlier this month! In this memoir, Bloom recounts her husband's Alzheimer's diagnosis and his decision to ultimately end his life by assisted suicide.

It's a heartbreaking story, though one I'm not sure was told in the best possible way. Each chapter takes you back and forth between the past and present, so one moment you're reading about Bloom and her husband in Switzerland preparing for his death and then you're taken back to the process of applying for the Swiss program, Dignitas, and then you're reading about how Bloom and her husband met, and then it's flash forward a bit to when Bloom first started noticing "off" things about her husband's behavior.

For me, the constant back and forth made it hard to keep track of what was happening and who the people were. It was very stream-of-consciousness, but I needed something a little more linear. Perhaps Bloom was trying to capture the stressful feeling of that time in her life or attempting to put the reader into a dementia mindset.

I did find it interesting how relegated death is in America, and I applaud Bloom for writing about her husband's very difficult and very personal decision, as well as her decision to support him.

In Love is published by Random House and is available to purchase now. I received a free e-ARC in exchange for this review.

One of the most powerful memoirs I've read. Dementia is an awful disease that steals so much. Bloom and her husband make the ultimate sacrifice. Poignant and compelling and utterly heart-wrenching.

This is the third book in March that read that chronicles the loss of a husband. Two were for the Modern Mrs Darcy Book club and this one, because I love Amy Bloom. While difficult each one was beautifully written and gave a different view on this difficult topic.

Amy’s husband was diagnosed with early onset Alzheimer’s and quickly decides he wants to end his life on his own terms. Bloom spends time in this memoir to share their love story but ultimately the process of finding Dignitas in Switzerland and all the lengths they go through to get accepted by their organization.

She does not hold back at all about her feelings, and at times this felt like a study of how this process works. This is not an easy topic at all and I understand not everyone will agree with the decisions made on this journey. I imagine it was very cathartic for Bloom, but also this might just help other families who are facing similar situations. My heart goes out to her for the decisions she had to make, and ultimately supporting the man she loves, to choose to end his life on his own terms and timeline. Ultimately knowing how it will end, gave him strength, but also allowed his family to be part of this process with him.

Thank you NetGalley and Random House for an Advanced Reader’s Copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.

"In Love," by Amy Bloom, is her account of her husband Brian Ameche's diagnosis of early onset Alzheimer's disease, his decision to end his life, and Bloom's struggle to discover a legal way for him to do that. The beginning of the book makes it clear that they eventually found a way to accomplish Brian's wishes, as "In Love" opens with the couple heading to the airport for one last trip together--to Zurich, where a Swiss nonprofit called Dignitas has provisionally approved Brian's application for "accompanied suicide." But this opening and Brian's eventual suicide, although wrenching enough, is not the real story of "In Love." Rather, the book moves back from this beginning to chart the story of a couple and their fierce love for each other, told in flashbacks (from their courtship to their marriage to the onset and steady worsening of Brian's illness) that are so beautifully and viscerally rendered that the reader feels Brian's deterioration, and Bloom's loss, all the more acutely by the time the book reaches Zurich again near the end. "In Love" is certainly not an easy book to read, but it is a rewarding one and one that has stayed with me in the weeks since I finished it.

Thanks to NetGalley and Random House for providing me with an ARC of this title in return for my honest review.

What a generous writer Amy Bloom is. A long-time reader of hers, this personal story hit me hard and was also a balm for my soul. She is so human. So real. Thank you.