PS I Love You the book

[AbandonThought]

I just thought I should post a quick message about what this book meant to me.

I went to Borders today actually looking for a copy of Marian Keyes's "Lucy Sullivan Is Getting Married," but they didn't have it. I was happy walking away after stumbling across Cecelia Ahern's "PS I Love You" and deciding to give it a try.

Alright, I know how frivolously people throw this phrase around, but I couldn't put the book down. There's only one other book that I have read in one day, and that was Alice Sebold's "The Lovely Bones." If you're familiar with that story, that should be testament to how good "PS I Love You" is, since they now fall in the same category for me.

PS I Love You was the role that made me fall in love with Gerry, and I've always identified with Holly. In the book, Holly is even better. Since there's inevitably a lot more character development possible in a 470 page book than a 2 hour movie, Holly is much more well-rounded in the book. She's so much more than just the grieving widow... she's a complete and beautiful human, and you're able to see her strength just as much as her weakness.

The book has very little in common with the movie, but both are so beautiful in their own right, and the message of both are still consistent.

This book somehow made me laugh hysterically (I thought my sides were going to split!) and on the very same page made me burst into tears. Just as a taste, here are a few of the passages that spoke to me in particular:

She was tired of just existing; she wanted to live. But what was the point of living when there was no life in it? These questions went through her mind over and over until she reached the point of not wanting to wake up from her dreams--they were what felt real.

-p. 127

She had loans up to her eyeballs, electricity bills, phone bills, insurance bills, everything that came through her door was a bloody bill, and she hadn't a clue how she was going to continue paying them all. But she didn't even care; she had become numb to all those irrelevant problems in her life. She just dreamed the impossible dreams.

-p. 254

She missed enjoying watching her favorite television programs instead of their just becoming something she would stare at blankly to pass the hours. She hated feeling like she had no reason to wake up; she hated the feeling when she did wake up.

-p.269

She laughed along with the jokes all night, she had felt excited for Denise, but she didn't feel like she was completely there. She felt like the shy girl at school who was always just there but never spoke and was never spoken to. She didn't recognize the person she had become; she wanted to be able to stop staring at the clock whenever she went out, hoping that the night would soon be over so she could go home and crawl into bed. She wanted to stop wishing time would pass and instead enjoy the moment. She was finding it hard to enjoy moments.

-p. 385

She was a woman who made mistakes, who sometimes cried on a Monday morning or at night alone in bed. She was a woman who often became bored with her life and found it hard to get up for work in the morning. She was a woman who more often than not had a bad hair day, who looked in the mirror and wondered why she couldn't just drag herself to the gym more often, she was a woman who had sometimes hated her job and questioned what reason she had to live on this planet. She was a woman who sometimes just got things wrong. On the other hand, she was a woman with a million happy memories, who knew what it was like to experience true love and who was ready to experience more life, more love and make new memories. Whether it happened in ten months or ten years . . . In the meantime, she would just live.

-p. 469

Wonderful book.

I think I'll go to sleep now.

Steph

[planetwalkers]

OH yes I to enjoyed reading " PS,I Love You" ,Steph,all 372 pages of it plus the Epilogue. Cecelia Ahern is such a warm spirited young woman who has the gift of being able to convay her gentle thoughts to others in a loving manner. Cecelia's character Holly in her book came alive as did all the other characters. Yes to me Holly was a woman who as the author said " had a bad hair day,somtimes hated her job, got things wrong, and evern questioned what right she had even living on this Planet". Holly was like many of us surviving from day to day and loving the good ones and hateing the bad ones. Then to when one has lost someone to death the heart is very still and the realities of what life is all about comes to mind. Wonderful book and movie.

[jojo23]

I agree too. This is a excellent book. Its so well written and the story is so well developed. Cecelia Ahern tells this sad story in such a lovely way. I was surprised when reading it how different the book and the film actually are. (don't get me wrong, I adore the movie - it was the first role I saw GJB in). The book just has so much depth to it.

My favourite part towards the end of the book had me in tears. Chapter 47. Gerry is trying to be strong but they both know. Holly is so frightened to leave him.

He imagined her on this very day in one year's time, possibly sitting on the bed right where he was now and reading the final instalment to the list.

p464

That got really got me!

[planetwalkers]

I agree too. This is a excellent book. Its so well written and the story is so well developed. Cecelia Ahern tells this sad story in such a lovely way. I was surprised when reading it how different the book and the film actually are. (don't get me wrong, I adore the movie - it was the first role I saw GJB in). The book just has so much depth to it.

My favourite part towards the end of the book had me in tears. Chapter 47. Gerry is trying to be strong but they both know. Holly is so frightened to leave him.

He imagined her on this very day in one year's time, possibly sitting on the bed right where he was now and reading the final instalment to the list.

p464

That got really got me!

And ...isn't that how life is in general we are so frightend of so many things that we don't understanad. Cecelia Ahern ,as young as she was ,when she wrote the book" PS, I Love You 'was gifted in more ways than one. She understood so much at such a young age. I remember hearing that Gerry knew of her and her family as her father was an impotant figure. For whatever reason the book and the movie struck HOME for many of us. Dealing with the unforseen is next to impossible in my book,but Cecelia did it bar-non.

[AbandonThought]

I love how realistically she's able to portray the rollercoaster of emotions... like the scene in the beginning when Holly is getting her hair fixed, and she can't stop laughing hysterically, and doesn't really even know why. I really identified with the cycles that Holly went through... how some days she was almost normal, and then other days she couldn't even get out of bed, and didn't have the strength to put on a front of being okay even for her family.

I also love how in the book it's emphasized that Holly isn't the only one grieving. Yes, she lost her husband and her best friend, but everyone who Gerry knew was affected. John, Sharon, Denise, even Holly's parents and siblings were all simultaneously mourning the loss of such a wonderful man and trying to move on. In the movie, it was very much more focused on what Holly went through.

Also particularly heart-wrenching were those scenes when Holly was having a moment of happiness and something made her stop and feel guilty that she wasn't all weepy and being the grieving widow... like when she and Daniel bump into Gerry's parents outside the restaurant.

I think we all can relate to this story because everyone has lost someone close to them, in one way or another.

Anyway, I could probably talk forever, as I was moved by virtually every scene in this book. Oh, and the documentary... fooking hilarious! I have never laughed so uproariously from a book!

Steph

[notdeadyet]

I think I fell for Gerry Kennedy first. What a great guy. Of course I fell for Gerry Butler,naturally. I just love the movie, and I've watched it many times. However I have not read the book. After reading all your opinions here I will definately get the book and now I am really looking forward to getting to know Holly and Gerry better. Thanks.

[NordicGirl]

The book is awesome and of course a lot more complex. I ordered it when I knew he would be starring in a movie inspired by it. Great read!

*hugs*