Love's Executioner - by Irvin D Yalom (Paperback)

Book Synopsis

A NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER

From renowned psychiatrist Irvin D. Yalom, intimate and enriching stories of patients struggling with anxiety, isolation, and the meaning of life.

"Dr. Yalom demonstrates once again that in the right hands, the stuff of therapy has the interest of the richest and most inventive fiction." ―New York Times

In this bestselling classic, master psychotherapist Dr. Irvin D. Yalom uncovers the mysteries, frustrations, pathos, and humor at the heart of the therapeutic encounter. As he recounts the real-life dilemmas of his patients, Yalom provides a rare and enthralling glimpse into their personal desires, motivations, and fears. In doing so, he also tells his own story, as he struggles to reconcile his all-too-human responses with his sensibility as a psychiatrist.

Told with stunning insight and deep empathy, Love's Executioner reveals the deepest truths of the shared human condition.

Review Quotes

"Inspired ... Yalom writes with the narrative wit of O. Henry and the earthy humor of Isaac Bashevis Singer."--San Francisco Chronicle

"Wise, humane, stirring, and utterly absorbing ... Irvin Yalom's book is charged with hope and generosity of spirit."--Newsday

"Yalom is a gifted storyteller, and from the sound of these tales, a no-less-gifted psychotherapist. He restores a sense of awe and mystery to an endeavor that all too often gets mired in the muck of jargon and categorization ... In addition to bringing the reader up close to his patients, and to a process often (necessarily) cloaked in secrecy, he gives the reader an un-airbrushed picture of the therapist, warts and all."--Los Angeles Times

"Dr. Irvin Yalom ... bravely steps into this chaotic void in Love's Executioner... He brings understanding, order, and the 'feel' of the process of psychotherapy as few before him have done."--Toronto Star

"Dr. Yalom's point is not to merely document psychological abnormality, it is to demonstrate that 'it is possible to confront the truths of existence and harness their power in the service of personal change and growth.' Read Love's Executioner, and weep."--Globe and Mail (CA)

"Here is the naked therapist, stripped of the armor of god-like omniscience, aware of his flaws."--Chicago Tribune

"In Love's Executioner I marvelled at Yalom's courage in writing about therapeutic relationships which had not been a great success and also at his skill in bringing these encounters to life."--Existential Analysis (UK)

"Irvin Yalom writes like an angel about the devils that besiege us. These beautifully wrought true stories go way beyond therapy; they are incisive and moving tales of life, by a wise psychotherapist."--Rollo May, psychologist

"Like Freud, Yalom is a graceful and canny writer. The fascinating, moving, enervating, inspiring, unexpected stuff of psychotherapy is told with economy and, most surprisingly, with humor."--Washington Post

"The vicissitudes of neurosis and its treatment have always provided irresistible material for dramatic narratives. In Love's Executioner Yalom demonstrates that in the right hands, the stuff of therapy has the interest of the richest and most inventive fiction."--Arkansas Democrat-Gazette

"Dr. Yalom demonstrates once again that in the right hands, the stuff of therapy has the interest of the richest and most inventive fiction."--New York Times

About the Author

Irvin D. Yalom, M.D., is an emeritus professor of psychiatry at Stanford University. He is the author of numerous books, including The Gift of Therapy, The Schopenhauer Cure, and Staring at the Sun. He lives in Palo Alto, California.