The Truth About Love

good

Was expecting something more on the order of a true romance instead of a tale of grief, nationalism, and forgetting. Whatever, I'm still a devotee of Jennifer Hart, on the basis of Damage!

This book arrived promptly and on time. I purchased this book to add to my Josephine Hart collection as she was a very excellent writer

In 1962 in Leinster, Ireland, the teenage son of Tom and Sissy O'Hara dies in an accident. Everyone comes to the funeral even newcomer Thomas "The German" Middlehoff who muses about attending his first Irish funeral. The parents of the victim and his siblings Olivia and Daragh know now life is surviving until you die.Over time however, the desire to just live becomes superseded by other needs except for the family patriarch who believes his mission in life is to keep his family safe and avoid risk. The widower expatriate who ran away from one death that haunts him, Middlehoff initially adopted the O'Hara philosophy, but found it permeated his literary work. Sissy becomes so depressed she is hospitalized. Olivia is angry and resentful as she feels she lives a dead life in homage to her late older brother; she turns to therapy and the the stage to pretend she lives. Finally there is Daragh who is simply an evanescent shadow with no substance.Rotating perspective the audience receives a powerful look at surviving the death of a loved one. The cast is deep as each represents an outlook on life and death. Although late surprise twists and denouements feels forced and hasty and detract from a profound look at THE TRUTH ABOUT LOVE even in death, fans of strong family drama will want to read Josephine Hart's fine tale of what happens to those who live after a loved one dies with no warning.Harriet Klausner

Very slow and difficult to get into. Not very upllifting. Unlike her other books which hsd a more poetic flow.

I think the problem lots of people have had with this book is that it is so irish and foreign to them. The writing is so good and the phraseology is so flowing. A very interesting look at various kinds of love. You don't have to agree with the sentiments to admire the skill of the writing. As opposed to others I never felt like not finishing it and I don't regret it.