Blog this item

Random Acts of Heroic Love

By Danny Scheinmann

(11)

| Paperback | 9780552774222

Like Random Acts of Heroic Love?
Join aNobii to see if your friends read it, and discover similar books!

Book Description

1992: Leo Deakin wakes up in a hospital somewhere in South America, his girlfriend Eleni is dead and Leo doesn't know where he is or how Eleni died. He blames himself for the tragedy and is sucked into a spiral of despair. But Leo is about to discover something which will change his life forever. 19Continue

2 Reviews

I came upon this book because Y talked incessantly about it

It wasn't the first book I shed tears over, and probably won't be the last, but its definitely the first to see my tears flooded over the first pages.
Reading this book Y recommended is like conjuring up shards of a long-forgotten time - and to remember why it was forgotten

Is this helpful?

Paul Yeung said on Oct 5, 2010 | Add your feedback

This read like two novels for me much of the time and I kept wondering why the author had not just made both these terrific stories into two separate novels. Well it is with good reason and eventually all is revealed and makes sense. Although you will need to make sure you read the epilogue and ackn ... (continue)

This read like two novels for me much of the time and I kept wondering why the author had not just made both these terrific stories into two separate novels. Well it is with good reason and eventually all is revealed and makes sense. Although you will need to make sure you read the epilogue and acknowledgments for full enlightenment.
The stories are those of the two protagonists, Mortiz Daniecki and Leo Deakin, both stories centring on the young mens search for lost love and the powerful effect this has upon their lives. We are first drawn into Leo’s story when he finds himself in hospital, it is 1992 and has apparently survived an accident in which his girlfiend Eleni has died. He has no recall of events at first and the story unfolds as he struggles to come to terms with the loss of the love of his life.
At the beginning of the third chapter we are suddenly introduced to Moritz who is dying but wants to ensure that he finishes telling his young sons the story of his desperate journey across Russia during the time of the Revolution and the first World War. The only thing that keeps him going is his love for Lotte, a girl back home that he has only ever shared one kiss with.
Although I felt I was reading two different novels I did like the way that the author linked them together with notebook entries throughout about the behaviour of other animal species with regard to love. I was also fascinated with the physics lectures that Leo attended and his descriptions about the lives of ants! As for Mortiz and his deathbed story of walking thousands of kilometres over a number of years all on the memory of one kiss it is very moving story of the strength of love.
Overall for me it was a compelling read which I recommend highly.

Is this helpful?

Lindyloumac said on Oct 20, 2009 | Add your feedback