Thoughtful portraits of ordinary but interesting lives with tragedy, loss, and love. I love the author but this wasn't my favorite of his books, but I found it still worth reading.

I found the first half to third of this book to be emotionally harrowing and extremely effective, but it really fell apart for me when it got caught up in intricacies of French law and I never regained my level of engagement.

Mi ha strappato il cuore dal petto, ma tutto bene.

Je pense qu'il y a un avant et un après avoir lu ce livre, et on ne peut pas en dire autant de la plupart des parutions. Il m'a empêchée de dormir mais à aucune minute je ne me suis dit que je devrais arrêter ma lecture. Magnifique témoignage sur la vie. Je suis encore sous le choc.

Edit : relecture 14 ans plus tard pour une émission à venir : je me souvenais très bien de ce texte et je le trouve toujours aussi puissant, même si son discours sur ce que serait le cancer ne me convainc pas, et même me perturbe beaucoup. Mais il a le droit de le penser et ça n'enlève rien au livre. Simplement j'avais oublié ces passages et ce désaccord profond à leur lecture

I am so taken by this book and Carrere's writing style. Deeply personal, almost painfully so. He weaves back and forth between autobiography and memoir, and in the end, ties the stories together with brilliance. From his personal experiences in the tsunami in Indonesia to the death of his sister-in-law after her battle with cancer. Unflinching and almost egotistical at times, but lovely and very real. I plan to read some of his other books.

http://dsdmona1.blogspot.com.es/2014/06/de-vidas-ajenas.html

Beautiful and extremely personal. Enjoyed this, especially towards the end. An unconventional and authentic book on grief. Recommended by the Atlantic’s Summer Reading list