The Kind of Love That Saves You

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Summary: The kind of love that saves you
Review: After losing someone very close to me, this book was given to me by a friend with the hope that it could help me come to terms with my grief. Although it's not a book I might have ordinarily picked up, I was quickly unable to put it down. The fact that someone could write so honestly and true about what it means to lose someone made me feel not so alone. And the thought someday everything might be okay is an incredibly wonderful thing to keep with you. This book is an amazing read without coming off as pandering or trite and I wonder why Oprah hasn't picked it up yet. I highly recommend it to anyone who has ever been put through tragedy of losing someone.

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Summary: Full of revelations & realizations
Review: An excellent, quick, and to the point book that I throughly enjoyed reading. Now, I normally don't enjoy all of the "sappy" content that this book is made of...but Amy Yurk has a way of writing and developing characters that makes you feel as if you are their best friend.

Sometimes you think you have the worst problems in the world...this book helps you to realze that maybe you don't. Sometimes you wonder why your marriage isn't as perfect as everyone else's seems to be...this book helps you to see that every marriage has its good parts and its not so good parts.

This book takes you through one of the scariest challenges of a woman's life....watch how the main character deals with the hand that life has dealt her...you will be inspired...and humbled.

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Summary: Glad I stumbled across this one
Review: I had never heard about this book or the author, but for some reason, I was compelled to read this book. How glad I am that I stumbled across this one.... and the timing was amazingly appropriate.

If you've ever experienced a loss, you'll probably find yourself sympathizing with the character and understanding every stage of her grief.

I am a fan of strong female characters who get through trying times victoriously.... well, as long as the plot is relatively believable and not too contrived. But this character is different. It's not that she's an amazingly heroic character, basically she can be anyone. She's someone, after a devastating loss of her partner, who has to find the courage and will to get through an extraordinarily difficult situation. The author so articulately chronicles all of her emotions through the intial shock and denial, to the heart wrenching grief, then her anger and eventually the will to heal and go on with life.

Like many people, I've experienced a loss that I thought I would never get over. I was amazed to find all of the emotions I went through written so articulatly in this book. Not only will you sympathize with the character, you'll probably go through a healing process along with her as you read the book.

This year, I read a lot of interesting novels, but I'd say this book is one of my top picks -- I feel so lucky I stumbled across this one!

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Summary: This book is outstanding!
Review: I read the review for this book and decided that I had to read it. Boy, am I glad I did! After reading it during my lunch hour for a couple of days and really getting into it, I decided to just stay up one night until I finished it. It was worth the sacrifice of being sleep deprived. Ms. Yurk really hit home on every nuance of love, friendship, and, most especially, loss. Having gone through a recent loss, I was truly captivated by how brilliantly and accurately she was able to describe all of the mental choas that goes on when trying to cope. I laughed, I cried, but, ultimately, I was truly inspired and uplifted. I enthusiastically recommend this book!

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Summary: stirring page-turner explores grief, pregnancy, friendship
Review: In her debut novel, "The Kind of Love That Saves You," talented Amy Yurk reveals the depth and quality of friendships women attain when confronted with the profound polarities of premature death and a highly anticipated pregnancy. Suffused with feminist sensitivity and a clear picture of the significance of initmacy women seem to attain only with and through each other, "The Kind of Love" chronicles a tumultuous year in the life of its protagonist Sarah Strickland, who must confront the shocking and unexpected death of her beloved husband and the enormous phsyical and emotional challenges presented to her through her pregnancy with the child her husband will never expeience.

Written as a series of journal entires/letters to her yet unborn child, the novel limps through its first third and does not attain its true stature until the protagonist confronts the very issue to which she introduces the reader in her moving prologue. In the novel's second paragraph, Sarah admonishes us that "every person's journey is touched by loss...Grief will reach in and wrap its roots tightly around your heart." The novel's central premise is presented in the next paragraph: "What I know now and so desperately want you to understand is that the grief that comes from losing someone does not have to be an ending. As with most experiences in life, you have a choice."

One the author has introduced the cruel and abrupt removal of Sarah's husband, however, her characters become truly alive to each other. "The Kind of Love" is no pat treatment of either the grieving process or the impact of pregnancy on a suddenly-single mother. Sarah Strickland pours out her heart to her yet unborn child; her uncertainties, ambivalences, fears and anger resonate with authenticity. Her lifelong friendship with Calista strains and nearly buckles under the stresses of Sarah's newly-minted anguish. Though the reader yearns for reassurance that the honorable protagonist will prevail -- that life will reassert itself in all its wonder, possibility and frustration -- the author never bends to convenience in her resolution of Sarah's life.

Splendid characterizations abound in this slim, immensely readable novel. Not only does Sarah come to unknowingly represent the verities of the heart she so valiantly struggles to comprehend, her friendships with Sarah and the stranger, Julie, seem real and genuine. Since the entire novel is written as a series of journal entries, readers should not expect soaring eloquence on every page. Sarah's decisions and actions speak far more convincingly that her words.

Nevertheless, Ms. Yurk has provided her audience with ample evidence that both she and her imagined protagonist are living with an informed heart. Against our wishes, we are compelled to acknowledge the "wonder of pain," but through that pain comes a renewed possibility of love. Indeed, the love that Sarah discovers for her unborn child is so fierce, so consuming, that it acts as a transformative influence in her wanderings through the barren recesses of grief. It is a love so deep, so thorough, so cleansing, that it becomes the kind of love that saves you.

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Summary: Kathy Hayes...
Review: The words in this book flowed so easily, I could not stop reading it. It brought me back to the days when I was pregnant for my children and what I thought and spoke to them. The main character,Sarah,writes a journal to her unborn child from pre-conception to the end. Throughout this journal, she writes of the tragic loss of her husband and the isolation she feels with her friends and her life. She makes a new friend with the new neighbor next door. In an uncanny way,this woman also sounds and talks like her dearly loved and departed Nana. It is as if she has come back to help her through this ordeal. She also comes to terms with her husband's death with her help. I particularly liked the way Ms. Yurk writes about the relationship between a husband and a wife, the good and the bad, theimperfections in one another, the wondering,"Did I really choose my soulmate? Is there really such a thing?" It spoke to me in many ways, even spiritually with the death of a loved one and the connection that will always be there. This book comes with a readers guide for bookclubs. My 17 year old daughter and her boyfriend also read it and loved it.

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Summary: Amy Yurk's witty but amazing works
Review: This book is absolutley amazing.....i could not put it down at all. the drama between calista and sarah are overwhelming. this book made me want to know if Amy Yurk had actually written this on an experience she may have encountered. the details were so vivd that it made me definitly wonder. this book actually make me want to know if there was more to the story to tell.

Rating:
Summary: Amy Yurk's witty but amazing works
Review: This book is absolutley amazing.....i could not put it down at all. the drama between calista and sarah are overwhelming. this book made me want to know if Amy Yurk had actually written this on an experience she may have encountered. the details were so vivd that it made me definitly wonder. this book actually make me want to know if there was more to the story to tell.

Rating:
Summary: The Kind of Love That Saves You
Review: This book leaves you reflecting on your own experiences and evaluating the relationships in your life. For anyone who has experienced the grieving process, this book expresses the pain and turmoil you felt in the words you couldn't find to describe it. This book is honest and fills you with hope. You'll cry, you'll giggle, and you'll hug your loved ones.

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Summary: A Heartwarming Afternoon Delight
Review: What a charming little book! At only 225 pages, with large typeface, the story kept me enthralled for one rainy, gray afternoon in February. As the book jacket says, the author possesses a deep understanding of what it means to be human, to be alive. Sarah Strickland and her best friend, Calista have been best friends, almost sisters, since childhood. They share every intimate detail of their lives. Calista married the best friend of Sarah's husband, Gavin. Calista and her husband already have a child, and Sarah wants one, but Gavin is not ready, so a conflict between them is set up, even though they seem to have a great marriage otherwise.

Finally, Gavin agrees to start a family and they are both ecstatic when Sarah becomes pregnant. Then tragedy strikes and the bonds of friendship between Sarah and Calista are sorely tested. Although Calista does her best to help Sarah through her devastating loss, they grow further and further apart. Sarah starts a friendship with a new neighbor who coincidentally has suffered a similar loss, and this causes jealousy between Sarah and Calista.

The author's ability to explore the depths and heights of human emotion and suffering are impressive. This book will make you laugh and cry and totally empathize with all the characters. I couldn't put the book down until I finished it.