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eva_io 's review for:
Creatures of a Day: And Other Tales of Psychotherapy
by Irvin D. Yalom
If i had the option i would rate this book with 3 1/2 stars, but I cannot, so 3 stars it is.
In "Creatures of a Day" Yalom deals with subjects like imminent death, loss of a loved one, search for one's identity, need to be witnessed, all while obviously going through some self-reflection as he approaches the end of his life.
The issues at hand evoke thoughts of your own, they resonate with you, and on many occasions i felt like i could finally see some of my concerns being expressed in a much more fluent and concise way than i would have ever been able to put them. One of my objections was that the stories themselves, although i guess they are used more as vehicles to convey ideas, were not particularly memorable - they did manage to put across the points of Mr Yalom, but after a few days they were forgotten (apart from the one with the retired ballet dancer, the one with Ellie, and the one with the Aurelius excerpts). The philosophical background and the notions remained of course, but since they are all explored through the stories of actual people, i would have liked to be able to remember them more (even though i do understand that this is a difficult task given the limited pages attributed to each story).
I also feel like i will be able to fully appreciate the book in a few years' time: those issues are thought-provoking and have definitely preoccupied me in the past, but they are not my greatest concerns at least at this phase in my life.
All in all it was an interesting book, it gave me insight to the world of psychotherapy, and introduced me to Dr Yalom. I will definitely read more of his novels and collections of stories in the future (although one with a bit broader range of subjects next time ;) ).
In "Creatures of a Day" Yalom deals with subjects like imminent death, loss of a loved one, search for one's identity, need to be witnessed, all while obviously going through some self-reflection as he approaches the end of his life.
The issues at hand evoke thoughts of your own, they resonate with you, and on many occasions i felt like i could finally see some of my concerns being expressed in a much more fluent and concise way than i would have ever been able to put them. One of my objections was that the stories themselves, although i guess they are used more as vehicles to convey ideas, were not particularly memorable - they did manage to put across the points of Mr Yalom, but after a few days they were forgotten (apart from the one with the retired ballet dancer, the one with Ellie, and the one with the Aurelius excerpts). The philosophical background and the notions remained of course, but since they are all explored through the stories of actual people, i would have liked to be able to remember them more (even though i do understand that this is a difficult task given the limited pages attributed to each story).
I also feel like i will be able to fully appreciate the book in a few years' time: those issues are thought-provoking and have definitely preoccupied me in the past, but they are not my greatest concerns at least at this phase in my life.
All in all it was an interesting book, it gave me insight to the world of psychotherapy, and introduced me to Dr Yalom. I will definitely read more of his novels and collections of stories in the future (although one with a bit broader range of subjects next time ;) ).