Book Review - Letter to D by Andre Gorz

It has also come to my attention ( not much of it but what can ya do), that I havn't reviewed a book for awhile, so I thought I'd pop a quick one on here.

Letter to D: A Love Story by Andre Gorz.

To be honest, I loved it. I've never read any of his other stuff and to be honest - probably never will, but this was fantastic. The basic premise of the book is that it is an open letter to his wife, Dorine, who is terminally ill. They've spent a lifetime together (60ish years), and he writes about how they fell in love and their time spent together:

'I have to record the story of our love piece by piece to appreciate its full meaning. It's allowed us to become who we are now, living side by side, and only for each other... Lately I've fallen in love with you all over again...'

A year after 'Letter to D' was published, a single sheet of paper pinned to the door for the cleaning lady marked the final chapter in a love affair that remained to the end as intense and passionate as their first encounter, love at first sight, almost 60 years before. In the bedroom lying peacefully side by side were the bodies of author Andre Gorz and his terminally ill wife Dorine. They simply could not have lived without each other. But this book is not about death - it's about life and love, and what a love. (I stole this bit from the jacket - I'm nifty like that :p).

At a little over 130 pages, this was very easy to read. Both because it was short and because it's well written and although it doesn't have a happy ending it's still a beautiful story. I will freely admit I was crying like a baby at the end of this - and to be totally honest - I was a bit teary all the way through it. This I think also had a lot to do with when I was reading it, (while Poppa was sick), and I was often comparing Nanna & Poppa with Dorine & Andre. But I would happily read this again, I might just have to give myself time to recover from the first read :)

C.