Customer Reviews: Read 8 more reviews...
 Fascinating stories of therapy where the psychiatrist is not God May 19, 2008
1 out of 1 found this review helpful
Having read most of Yalom's other books, I expected this to be an insightful and instructive read. And so it proved. Yalom's ten 'cases' are recounted with gentleness, caring and consideration. The author does not cast himself in the role of the psychiatrist-God who has all the answers but as a person with likes and dislikes, with successes and failures, someone whose best intentions at times backfire and who can hit the spot with some of his patients through sheer accident. He treats his patients with consideration and respect without romanticizing the despair and anxiety he faces in his work. The book offers an interesting counter-part to Freud's classic case studies, which evoked the detective story genre as the psychoanalyst seeks to put together the clues offered him/her by the patient. Here too there is suspense. But the answers come from unexpected, sometimes accidental, quarters. Yet, each and every one of these cases provides a meaningful story with a beginning, a middle and, always, a satisfying end.
What an amazing book... November 15, 2007
4 out of 4 found this review helpful
I rarely read books to the end, even those I like, but this had me gripped from start to finish.
Yalom makes interactions with his patients into riveting, detective story narratives wrapped in essential human needs and the essential fears and desires at the heart of nearly all of us (he says we all fear death for example).
He takes each patient (and us as viewers) on a sort of an absolutely enthralling intellectual ramble seeking the essence of the patients pain. He manages to eek out the most interesting characteristics from these stories and his insights into them are incredible. Interspersed in the accounts are interesting digressions into the process of psychotherapy; what it is for and what it aims to do.
For someone interested in psychotherapy (someone "psychologically minded" as he says) or into the deeper meaning of all of our lives journeys, this is juicy juicy stuff.
Simply the best June 21, 2007
4 out of 4 found this review helpful
This is a "fly on the wall" book. It lets budding counsellors and psychotherapists see what really goes on in the consulting room of one of the most important therapists of the age. I recommend this to students every year, and every year they are gripped by the stories.
An essential read for anyone interested in the inner lifes of clients therapists or themselves
Fascinating Stories March 23, 2007
7 out of 9 found this review helpful
This book is riveting. It's all about people who are exhibiting extreme behaviour: overeating, passionately in love with someone half your age, a man paranoid about losing face, a sleazy sex maniac and a boring accountant with lurid dreams.
Dr Yalom gets them all in his surgery and talks them through their problems. He uncovers the most amazing things, which are an inspiration, offering insights into how we all tick.
I find lots of people quite hostile or afraid of psychotherapy. I've recommended this book to them because, whatever your views on therapy, it's a gripping read.
Brilliant & Engaging January 3, 2007
9 out of 9 found this review helpful
Love's Executioner is one of the best books I've read in a long time. It was engaging, interesting and I couldn't put it down. I read the entire book in two days. I also found it helpful in highlighting the therapeutic relationship, which students of psychotherapy will find helpful. Overall an excellent book!!!
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