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hanfaulder's review against another edition
dark
informative
reflective
sad
medium-paced
3.25
The plot of An Exclusive Love: A Memoir, by Johanna Adorján, is the recounting of details about her own grandparents double suicide. Her grandparents, whom Adorján renders in intimate detail, were Hungarian Jews who survived the Holocaust and the war, and eventually also escaped Hungary in 1956 during the uprising against the Communist regime. They eventually took their lives together in their home in Copenhagen in 1991, as her grandfather was slowly dying from typhoids and her grandmother simply could not live without him.
None of that information is any kind of spoiler, or indication of what this book is really about. An Exclusive Love document's their death - their final day together - through the imagination of Adorján, as she cuts between her own journey and how their death impacted the people in their lives, and the fictional story of their last day alive, which was informed by facts Adorján unearthed about them. With no chapters to brake-up this very short book, Adorján tells an incredibly compelling story of a granddaughters want to better understand her family's past, her heritage, and her grandparents. She explores what it really means to have unconditional love for someone, and although I personally have not thought too much about this book since finishing it, it was thought provoking, informative and tender to read.
Adorján writes this with a dry humour that I found very enjoyable, and oddly grounding. Without her presence of narration, the wit and the softness she brings, I think that this book could have easily become too sentimental and this could have hindered the storytelling. Adorján's writing is, however, very elegant in prose, and smooth to read. Moreover, I found the details that Adorján focused on - her finding it hard to give up smoking as she felt it tied her to her grandmother; the school trip being disrespectful when she visited the concentration camp her grandfather had been detained in; and the feeling of comfort she felt on a flight to Isreal, surrounded by other jewish people - these specific and almost mundane events within the book made it feel all the more real. I felt connected to Adorján and her story in this way, as I could relate my own experiences to hers, and the peculiar things that play with your emotions as you grieve. I thought that overall, this was a lovely short read, and it is particularly good to get into if you feel like you're in a reading slump.
None of that information is any kind of spoiler, or indication of what this book is really about. An Exclusive Love document's their death - their final day together - through the imagination of Adorján, as she cuts between her own journey and how their death impacted the people in their lives, and the fictional story of their last day alive, which was informed by facts Adorján unearthed about them. With no chapters to brake-up this very short book, Adorján tells an incredibly compelling story of a granddaughters want to better understand her family's past, her heritage, and her grandparents. She explores what it really means to have unconditional love for someone, and although I personally have not thought too much about this book since finishing it, it was thought provoking, informative and tender to read.
Adorján writes this with a dry humour that I found very enjoyable, and oddly grounding. Without her presence of narration, the wit and the softness she brings, I think that this book could have easily become too sentimental and this could have hindered the storytelling. Adorján's writing is, however, very elegant in prose, and smooth to read. Moreover, I found the details that Adorján focused on - her finding it hard to give up smoking as she felt it tied her to her grandmother; the school trip being disrespectful when she visited the concentration camp her grandfather had been detained in; and the feeling of comfort she felt on a flight to Isreal, surrounded by other jewish people - these specific and almost mundane events within the book made it feel all the more real. I felt connected to Adorján and her story in this way, as I could relate my own experiences to hers, and the peculiar things that play with your emotions as you grieve. I thought that overall, this was a lovely short read, and it is particularly good to get into if you feel like you're in a reading slump.
Content Warnings
Moderate: Grief, Antisemitism, Death, Suicide, and War
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