Amy Bloom’s “In Love”

I finished Amy Bloom’s “In Love” today and am still puffy eyed from all the crying. Amy Bloom, with her sharp-edged wit and reflective clarity, retells the end of her husband’s life, from early-onset Alzheimer’s diagnosis to his death at Dignitas in Switzerland. This astounding work makes you laugh as you sob, gets you thinking while you relax into Bloom’s contagious storytelling and leaves you wiser for knowing their journey.

In my mind, Dignitas looks like some gothic castle in the Alps. In reality, it is a small Apartment in an industrial complex in Zurich; a safe haven for the terminally ill who wish to leave this life in an accompanied, medical suicide. The harrowing obstacles that Bloom and her husband had to overcome to gain permission to purchase Dignitas services was as eye-opening as heartbreaking.

This book is a must-read for anyone curious about Dignitas and what would lead a person there and what that specific trip would entail. It is also a beautiful reflection of caregiving a person with dementia and companioning a spouse as they navigate a terminal diagnosis. If you’re interested in memoirs, give this one a listen; hearing Bloom read her own story will touch you in a deep and profound way.