****** - Verified Buyer
4.5
Okay, I had to order this book for school (I'm studying to be a LPC - Licensed Professional Counselor). I was excited to have to buy a non-fiction book instead of a fiction book for school, especially when I saw the cover of the book and the reviews. If anything, even if the book is terrible, it looks great on my nightstand (see picture) :-). My schooling starts end of August and I have already read about 100 pages of this book, I have not finished it obliviously but I feel I can give enough of a review/perspective to hopefully help others.Pros:The writing is crisp, engaging in third person and have different "voices" because the story deals with different characters.The author, Irvin D. Yalom, does a good job of creating very different types of characters and he knows A LOT about psychotherapy because he is one, the author is currently in his 80's and according to Wiki page, still cuts a strong figure in his pictures and I can imagine he is (or was?) a bit of a Don Juan if you will with the ladies. I base that presumption on the fact that the first character in the book is an elderly man who is a psychotherapist that gets involved with a very promiscuous/off kilter patient. I imagined the author relating to this since he wrote the book n 1996 and as of 2016, he's 85, so 20 years ago, mid 60's he could foresee a man in his 70's still being able to catch a young and sexually active woman.But that's not what this book is about really, so far, the book seems to be about how as patients, as clients, as therapist etc. we all experience things in our own way. What makes Irvin (the author) so good is that he is able to not just create multi-dimensional characters but SO many of them! It's as if the author himself has tons of different personalities in him (he is a Gemini ...ha, so who knows). So far this is why I DO like the book.NowCons:Where I struggle with the book is Irvin sometimes, especially in the first chapter, writes too much and makes you want to get to the point. Also, as interesting and varied some of his characters are? Some of a bit stereotypical.I have no idea where the book will end but it's much like a series of short stories strung together yet with most, if not all, the characters somehow being connected to each other.I look forward to the end of this book, not because it's so bad, but rather because much like ourselves, as human beings, it is multi-layered and unpredictable.
