This book was lent to me by a very dear friend. It's not a book I would normally read. It's interesting because at the beginning of the book, I was kind of irritated by the author and his views on the purpose of life and his ideas of what love should be like. Rather than finding it romantic, I thought a relationship of his type would be suffocating and obsessive! Still, I plowed along. I enjoyed the boating and the conversion to Christianity and the great insights from his friend, C.S. Lewis. I cried when his wife died. The emotion was very real and sincere. But, I still have to say that my very favorite part was when C.S. Lewis told him that his romantic notions were selfish and he'd been living his life all wrong! Wow! The book didn't turn out to be about how Mr. Vanauken (the author) was right, but how he was wrong! To his credit, Van took the rebuke really well. Then I liked the book much more (although that didn't happen until the end.) Also, the book was a very good book about grief. Although, maybe not. Again, I could not be as obsessive about grief as he was, either. Still, what I did glean from the book was some of the challenge of being a convert to religion -- especially when you already had a really strong driving purpose previously, it can really rock your world. I hadn't ever given that much thought before. Overall, I'd say it was a worthwhile read.