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47th out of 2,592 books
—
904 voters
Losing Julia
by
Jonathan Hull (Goodreads Author)
An epic story of love found and lost, Losing Julia begins in 1928 at the dedication of a memorial to the great War in France. American Patrick Delaney has come to mourn his fallen comrades, especially his best friend, Daniel. When he sees a woman standing alone in the crowd, he realizes she must be Julia, Daniel’s lover. Though Patrick is married, he and Julia fall despera...more
Paperback, 390 pages
Published
February 6th 2001
by Island Books
(first published February 1st 2000)
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I actually underlined insights the author expressed via Patrick's character -- wise words about life and living, about pain and forgiveness. I found the male perspective enlightening. Some of the passages describing the reality of war were excruciating, yet beautifully written. I see others found his lusting after Julia to be tedious. I found it to be so very true to life and representing perfection, unattainable - like the perfect butterfly that got away. This is honest writing. Patrick is a ve...more
Sep 07, 2007
Deborah
rated it
5 of 5 stars
Recommends it for:
anyone sentimental
Shelves:
alltimefavorites
ok, you can approach this from a moral sense (he longed for this woman al lhis life and had a brief affair with her while he was marrit) or you can enjoy.. i say just read it and THOROUGHLY enjoy the way it is written. a man, reflecting on his life, his love, as he sits in a nursing home, waiting to die.
so well written (from the heart), very 'male' in the way he looked at things (ok, it IS written by a man) and ... dare i say it? romantic, from that male point of view.
this book drew me in with i...more
so well written (from the heart), very 'male' in the way he looked at things (ok, it IS written by a man) and ... dare i say it? romantic, from that male point of view.
this book drew me in with i...more
3 likes · like · see review
A lovely story!
In a nursing home in California, WWI vet Patrick Delaney is fighting new battles: against old age (he's 81), stomach cancer and the knowledge of his encroaching death. This earnest, elegant first novel takes the form of Patrick's diary, in which he details the humbling infirmities of an aging body and looks back at the defining moments of his life--the war itself, when he lost his best friend, Daniel, and the brief but intense love affair he had 10 years later with Daniel's grievi...more
In a nursing home in California, WWI vet Patrick Delaney is fighting new battles: against old age (he's 81), stomach cancer and the knowledge of his encroaching death. This earnest, elegant first novel takes the form of Patrick's diary, in which he details the humbling infirmities of an aging body and looks back at the defining moments of his life--the war itself, when he lost his best friend, Daniel, and the brief but intense love affair he had 10 years later with Daniel's grievi...more
Jonathan Hull's novel Losing Julia was a pleasure to read. The main character, Patrick Delaney is an 81 year old WWI veteran who begins by reminiscing about his life. The reader is treated to beautiful prose and the haunting and provactive questions Patrick asks himself. "Is it better to have loved and lost or never to have loved at all?" "Is it better to have loved well for a short time or to let love grow and mature beyond that perfect phase of utter bliss?" These themes echo throughout the bo...more
This book was chosen for our "Hear Book" book club. This means that the books belongs to our heart, has changed us, or made a substantial impact in our lives. When I first began reading Losing Julia, at about page 50, I groaned. This was someone's heart book and I thought there would be nothing worse than finishing this book.
Then I reached about page 150 and it all changed. Patrick, the main character, stole my heart. He is a cynical man, unable to see all the wonder and beauty he brings into th...more
Then I reached about page 150 and it all changed. Patrick, the main character, stole my heart. He is a cynical man, unable to see all the wonder and beauty he brings into th...more
Jan 14, 2010
Becky
rated it
5 of 5 stars
Shelves:
historical-fiction,
owned,
romance,
2010,
reviewed,
tear-jerkers,
highly-recommended,
favorites,
blog_etb,
challenge-1010
First, I should probably go ahead and thank Allison for this one. She threw this into a Christmas box she sent me as a last minute whim. To be honest, I probably never would have picked it up on my own. But that would have been a shame, because this story was fantastic.
So far this year is starting out wonderfully. This is my 4th 5-star read this year alone. When I think of that ratio, I feel like I've been super generous already this year. But I think that everything has been deserving of the r...more
So far this year is starting out wonderfully. This is my 4th 5-star read this year alone. When I think of that ratio, I feel like I've been super generous already this year. But I think that everything has been deserving of the r...more
8 likes · like · see review
It seems so thin to call this a history/romance since it is so much more.
Patrick Delaney is an 81-year-old living in a nursing home and he is also a veteran of World War I. During that war he listened to his friend and comrade in arms, Daniel, talk about his fiance, Julia.
Ten years after the war, when Patrick is married and Daniel dead, Patrick meets Julia in France and the two have a brief but intense love affair. Their relationship is more than just an affair, but Patrick returns home to...more
Patrick Delaney is an 81-year-old living in a nursing home and he is also a veteran of World War I. During that war he listened to his friend and comrade in arms, Daniel, talk about his fiance, Julia.
Ten years after the war, when Patrick is married and Daniel dead, Patrick meets Julia in France and the two have a brief but intense love affair. Their relationship is more than just an affair, but Patrick returns home to...more
1 like · like · see review
One of the best books I have ever read.Some parts made me smile,some made me want to cry,many parts made me think of my own life and those around me.
The story is told by Patrick,an 80 year old man in a nursing home as remembers his life in the trenches of France in WW 1 and his very brief love affair with Julia.
In the war he is befriended by Daniel who reads him all the letters from Julia,she is pregnant they are not married but will be after the war,Daniel doesn't make and
10 years later Patric...more
The story is told by Patrick,an 80 year old man in a nursing home as remembers his life in the trenches of France in WW 1 and his very brief love affair with Julia.
In the war he is befriended by Daniel who reads him all the letters from Julia,she is pregnant they are not married but will be after the war,Daniel doesn't make and
10 years later Patric...more
So unbelievably heartbreaking!! An amazingly written love story with a mixture of loss, refinding love, losing love again and of history and destiny. For a debut novel, Jonathan Hull has done an incredible job. I'll be looking for more of his work.
From back cover:
"Patrick Delaney was just a boy when he marched off to war in 1918. But on the stark battlefields of France, amid the horror and the chaos, Patrick forged a bond that would shape the course of his life. Daniel was Patrick's best friend,...more
From back cover:
"Patrick Delaney was just a boy when he marched off to war in 1918. But on the stark battlefields of France, amid the horror and the chaos, Patrick forged a bond that would shape the course of his life. Daniel was Patrick's best friend,...more
This book haunted me - it haunted my thoughts and my dreams with its description of war and growing old. The book is about war, love and old age. The author's description of WWI and trench warfare were heartbreaking. It's also a book of how fast time flies and how fast we grow old. The main character narrates the book and it's about his life - starting from WWI and ending at the age of 80 in a nursing home. It's also a love story and the powerful attraction of that "one" person who makes your wh...more
I loved the basis for this book: a three-way flash-back and -forward story, set in 1918 WWI in France, in 1928 in France at a reunion of war veterans, and in 1980 in a California nursing home. It's all written from the point of view of Patrick and tells a beautiful story of the wonders of love. Will it always be so blissful, or does love change over time? Do we all have a perfect mate somewhere? What are the long-range effects of our decisions? I didn't set out to read a novel about WWI, but it'...more
I have just finished this book and feel like my heart has been ripped out of my chest! I read it in a day, it's so wonderfully written. Patrick's insights into his life, and life in general are so poignant, at times I needed to put the book down to think about what I just read.
I loved the stories told from his days as a soldier in the Great War, although these are graphically descriptive, and at times hard to read as you try to imagine what the men are going through. His friendship with Daniel...more
I loved the stories told from his days as a soldier in the Great War, although these are graphically descriptive, and at times hard to read as you try to imagine what the men are going through. His friendship with Daniel...more
Getting old is hell and youth is wasted on the young. Hull's novel captures these sentiments in the story of Patrick Delaney, an 81-year-old World War 1 veteran who finds himself dying from stomach cancer as he lives out the end of his days in a nursing home. Patrick spends a great deal of time reminiscing about the past, specifically his time in the war, and the decade after that when he returned to France and met up with the titular Julia. Patrick remembers those who shared his journey into th...more
The story shifts adroitly between the Western Front of WWI, the same local ten years after the war, and the nursing home where 80 year old veteran Patrick waits to die and dreams of Julia, a girl he first fell in love with through the letters his buddy Daniel shared with him in the trenches before he was killed. Meeting Julia when, married and the father of a young child, he returns to visit the war memorial ten years later, he falls in love with flesh and blood Julia but cannot hold her. This i...more
Poingnant
One of my favorite books in rotation to read at least once a year, Losing Julia is the very definition of poignant. The tale is also not "just another war love story." It is extremely unique in structure; the story revolves around three time periods of the author's life - the war, 10 years after the war, and when he is at the end of his life. In particular, the unique perspective of the narrator while at the end of his life is incredibly vivid.
Although the perspectives of the narrator c...more
One of my favorite books in rotation to read at least once a year, Losing Julia is the very definition of poignant. The tale is also not "just another war love story." It is extremely unique in structure; the story revolves around three time periods of the author's life - the war, 10 years after the war, and when he is at the end of his life. In particular, the unique perspective of the narrator while at the end of his life is incredibly vivid.
Although the perspectives of the narrator c...more
This book was completely absorbing and I enjoyed it thoroughly. The intertwining of the different stages of Patrick Delaney's life was well done and very convincing. The writing style allowed you to actually be able to sympathize, even empathize, with the emotions the characters were going through. The book was definitely one to pull at the heart strings.
I was surprised that the heaviness of the WWI inclusion did not bother me more as I generally avoid such movies and books. However, it was writ...more
I was surprised that the heaviness of the WWI inclusion did not bother me more as I generally avoid such movies and books. However, it was writ...more
1 like · like · see review
If ever there was a book I wanted to go crazy with a highlighter on, it’s this one. Patrick, the 81 year old main character of the story, has some of the best observations about life, love and getting older that I’ve ever heard. He’s so witty and sarcastic and yet there is such truth, honesty, and insight to what he’s saying, and I went from laughing one minute to feeling sad and heartbroken the next. The only thing that stopped me from grabbing the highlighter and going to town was that I would...more
6 likes · like · see review
I had a very hard time starting this book, which I think I got by searching for highly rated books on amazon.com. Let me sum up the beginning, where the married Patrick meets his dead best friend's fiancee for the first time; Julia smiled; I wanted her. Julia walked; I wanted her. Julia picked her nose; I loved her completely and totally. The Julia part of this book is total drivel, like a Harlequin romance written from a guy's point of view. Zero stars for the Julia part.
So, I picked this book...more
So, I picked this book...more
I found this book profoundly sad. A beautiful and heartwarming story, with a protagonist who is in his 80s and winding down his remaining days in a nursing home and spending most of his time wondering what might have been. Perhaps because it reminded me of my dad, perhaps because I have a soft spot for stories about the young men who fought in the world wars, at the end I was drained. This Isn't meant to deter anyone from reading it-- it's a wonderful book. But I think I need to watch a comedy o...more
I'm a sucker for love stories, and when set in Paris, it just gets better. But this is more than a love story: it's also a story of war (WWI), growing old, and coming to terms with death. The story is told in three time settings: the French battlegrounds during WWI, Paris 10 years later, and then a nursing home some 60 plus years hence when Patrick, dying of stomach cancer, contemplates his life and his long lost love. A tearjerker.
A very poignant story of a young man facing death in World War I and finding love at the same time. I love the way the author planned out the story line, jumping from today and the old man in the nursing home to yesterday on the fields of war. I think this book was particularly successful in describing the horrors of that war. Most people seem to have forgotten about it, but those that fought in the trenches in France knew what terror was.
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1 like · like · see review
Flashes between Patrick Delaney, young inexperienced WWI soldier in France, and Patrick Delaney, geriatric cancer-ridden nursing home patient. Interesting once you get into it; took me two tries. It is truly a novel about living your life to the fullest and not getting bogged down with the unimportant things...life is too short. Patrick pines for Julia his entire life after a brief affair with her in Paris at a veteran's reunion.
I was mesmerized by this story. It is hard to believe it was Not written by an 81 year old veteran of WWI, the story was so poignant and real. Anyone who ever had any delusions that war is glorious should read this book. While the war is the backdrop of the story, the author weaves in a love story, and the musings of an old man. I was really sorry to finish this book, but I liked the ending. If you liked reading Water for Elephants, you will enjoy this book just as much.
This book touched me and moved me.
I fell in love with Patrick and my heart broke with his.
I read the paperback, purchase a hard-cover author-signed edition and listened to it on audio.
The audio (abridged version) is read by Ralph Waite and he does an awesome job of switching from the 20-year-old Patrick to the elderly present-tense Patrick.
I fell in love with Patrick and my heart broke with his.
I read the paperback, purchase a hard-cover author-signed edition and listened to it on audio.
The audio (abridged version) is read by Ralph Waite and he does an awesome job of switching from the 20-year-old Patrick to the elderly present-tense Patrick.
loved the way the story was told through Patrick's eyes during the time he was in WWI, then as a young married man after the war and later as he was in the nursing home. The love story is just beautiful and sad. Hearing the story through time puts life in perspective and lets you reflect about war and love and the choices we make in life.
I don't want to say too much about this book before my bookclub meets soon to discuss it, but I definitely didn't love this book. It had some gems of wisdom, but they were few and far between. Wouldn't recommend it. I think, however, that others in the bookclub really liked it, so it should make for an interesting discussion.
I read this book a long time ago, but it has always stayed with me because it was so well done. Not even sure if it's still in print...I highly recommend it if you can find it. A movie would have been perfectly cast with Paul Newman as the old man looking back, Matt Damon as the young man and Julie Orman as Julia.
This book was good-ish. I connected with the main character at first and the love story between him and Julia was very compelling. However, I could never really completely like him because of the affair. I never could like a character who has had an affair, whatever their reason may be. I did like how the story jumped from the battlefield to France ten years after the war to the present day. It was intriguing to read the separate pieces and see the changes taking place in Patrick. I also liked t...more
Read a few years ago, but both my husband and I enjoyed it. (I am currently starting Hull's more recent novel and it reminded me of his earlier work). It is set in a modern day nursing home and in World War I battlefields. It is similar to the flashback organization of Water for Elephants.
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Jonathan Hull is the bestselling author of Losing Julia and The Distance from Normandy. His latest novel, The Devoted, has just been released as of August 2012.
A graduate of the University of California at Berkeley, Hull spent ten years as a correspondent at TIME, including three as the Jerusalem Bureau Chief. His reporting has ranged from the Gulf War and the Palestinian uprising to presidential...more
More about Jonathan Hull...
A graduate of the University of California at Berkeley, Hull spent ten years as a correspondent at TIME, including three as the Jerusalem Bureau Chief. His reporting has ranged from the Gulf War and the Palestinian uprising to presidential...more
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“I’ve always hated Mondays, the whole lot of them. Too much whiplash, snapping the tired masses to attention. God’s way, perhaps, of reminding us that we are not masters of our fate, no matter how deluded we became during the weekend respite.”
—
32 people liked it
“It is said that life is too short, and that’s quite true, unless you are lonely. Loneliness can bring time to its knees; an absolute and utter standstill.”
—
13 people liked it
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