A moving and honest memoir. The author tries to piece together the clues of her grandparents' last day together. Delicately drawn and yet honest. When she introduces herself, it is germane to the story. Otherwise, she focuses on the two of them, what brought them together and why they came to the decision to commit a double suicide.

This deeply personal and heartbreaking memoir was eloquent and understated. How should someone approach the suicide of a loved one? How much do we really want to know about our family histories? I found some comfort in knowing that the author’s grandparents’ suicides were not unexpected. Still conveying a palpable sense of loss, the author made a thorough journey in retracing (and sometimes connecting) the severed threads of her grandparents’ lives to help keep their memories alive.

This book is heartbreaking. But you get this in the very first sentence. I found it a bit slow, but I completely understand why the author chose to be so descriptive, so I cannot judge it.

I understand the title but also think it makes the book appear to be a romance novel, which it is in the sense it’s about love, but not in the sense of Romance Novel. It’s a memoir by the granddaughter of a couple who committed suicide together when the husband got fatally ill. The couple—Pista and Vera-- married just before WWII and were Jewish. She, writer/granddaughter, tells their story through her story of interviews with people who knew them and her memories of them; she interweaves that with trying to imagine what their last day was like and trying to understand why they killed themselves, particularily Vera who was very healthy. Pista survived a concentration camp (but never spoke about it), was an orthopedic surgeon, went to the Korean war with a communist Hungarian hospital, then feld Hungary and rebuilt their lives in Denmark.

Love has so many facets in the book, which is the title but is so much less trite than the title sounds. Vera never believed anyone but her husband loved her and couldn’t face life without him. She worked as a physical therapist before melding into the Danish housewife role. Pista always honored and adored Vera. There’s a clear love of classical music woven throughout their lives, love of friends, love for their dog, all faced against this unspeakable act that seems so selfish and unloving to their granddaughter. Then, all of this is set against their secular Judiasm. The writer tries to figure out what being Jewish meant to them and what it means to her.

Really, a very sad, very thoughtful, very deep book.

You want a depressing book? Read this. Reminded me of a This American Life episode about an "exclusive love".

Tätä on hirveästi kehuttu, mutta minulle tämä jäi ehkä vähän etäiseksi. On vaikea kuvitella todeksi asioita sellaisen ihmisen kertomana, joka ei ole ollut paikalla. Kirja perustuu siis pitkälti olettamuksiin ja tarinoihin. Elämänkertana ei vain vakuuta.

The subject of this book--two Holocaust survivors committing suicide together in old age--was interesting, but the translation was a bit rough at times. The author (their granddaughter) seemed to be writing the book to make peace with their deaths and learn more about her grandparents, but she never seems to discover much, and much of the book is what she imagines their last day to have been like, because she doesn't actually know what really happened that day.

I found out about this book on NPR and found it to be a perfect bookend to my World War II theme. A slim memoir, Adorjan tells the story of how her grandparents, Holocaust survivors, committed suicide together after the grandfather was diagnosed with a terminal illness. In their seventies, but still quite active, the couple had been devoted to each other, but never told open with their children or friends about the horrors they had experienced together. A simple, slow-moving story, Adorjan doesn't offer conclusive answers or compelling narrative, but just a simple look at a couple, who when faced with the idea of separation, choose to end their lives together. Bittersweet and fascinating, I ended up enjoying this book more than I thought I would.