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The Geography of Love: A Memoir

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Author: Glenda Burgess
Publisher: Broadway
Category: Book

List Price: ~~$22.95~~
Buy New: $5.12
You Save: $17.83 (78%)

New (44) Used (23) Collectible (1) from $3.64

Avg. Customer Rating: 5.0 out of 5 stars

13 reviews
Sales Rank: 226464

Media: Hardcover
Number Of Items: 1
Pages: 320
Shipping Weight (lbs): 0.8
Dimensions (in): 8.3 x 5.6 x 1.3

ISBN: 0767928598
Dewey Decimal Number: 813.54
EAN: 9780767928595
ASIN: 0767928598

Publication Date: August 5, 2008
Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days
Shipping: Expedited shipping available
Shipping: International shipping available
Condition: dust cover has hole in back side and wrinklesa

Also Available In:

•	Paperback - The Geography of Love: A Memoir
•	Kindle Edition - The Geography of Love: A Memoir
•	Paperback - The Geography of Love: A Memoir

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Editorial Reviews:

Product Description
“If I had given it much thought, I might have hesitated to marry a man for whom at the age of 45 much of the past was too painful to consider--for either of us. Truthfully, thought had little to do with it. Instinct did--the instinct to seize a sure and ebullient happiness or go down trying.”

Falling in love is arguably the greatest risk and leap of faith any of us take. There’s no guarantee for future happiness, no protection from the ugly scars of the past, no shield from tragedy--this powerful memoir reminds us why we bother.

At a lakeside caf� in the summer of 1988, 31-year-old Glenda Burgess is sitting across from 44-year-old Kenneth Grunzweig and falling in love. Then Ken confesses that he has already been widowed twice, under harrowing circumstances. This tragic past, the age difference, Ken’s emotionally scarred teenage daughter--all might be enough to send anyone running, but Glenda believed in her instincts, believed more than anything that this lovely, generous man would shape her life. And Ken, who with his heartbreaking losses had long said that he’d given up on love, came to share a sense of their romantic destiny. The two embark on the sort of love affair that many of us don’t believe exist anymore--a grand romance that buoys them through the birth of two kids andfifteen magical years of marriage until tragedy strikes again in the form of a shadowy spot on Ken’s lung. The journey that follows will test their resilience and strengthen their devotion.

The Geography of Love is a book about believing in first instincts and second chances.

It is a poignant exploration of the depths of the human heart and our ability to love and to trust no matter the obstacles.

It is a reminder that “real” life is always richer, stranger, and more extraordinary than fiction.

It is the most moving love story you’ll read this year.

Customer Reviews: Read 8 more reviews...

4 out of 5 stars

The Georgraphy of Love October 28, 2008
I enjoyed reading Burgess memior. Actually her story coincided what a set of events that was ocurring in my life. I lost my father, not the way she lost her husband but I was reading the end as my father passed. I felt her pain and loss. Her strength and dedication to her husband helped me do the same with my mother and siblings.

We just never know what is around the corner of life.

5 out of 5 stars

Wonderful Book October 27, 2008
What a great book. I couldn't stop reading. The language was beautiful. I was overwhelmed by the beauty of everything the author had to say. I recommend this book highly.

5 out of 5 stars

Fact is Better Than Fiction October 20, 2008
I bought this book for my wife after hearing a radio review in Australia. I thought it was a chick book but picked it up when it arrived and read the first page - I was hooked. Glenda Burgess is a very descriptive writer. A great book guys.

5 out of 5 stars

Devastating book.... but so worth it October 1, 2008
1 out of 1 found this review helpful

Let me state upfront that I picked this book up in kind of a hurry, not knowing much about it, other than "early-30s woman finally finds true love with older guy (mid-40s)". So imagine my surprise when I started reading this book.

In the first third of "The Geography of Love" (310 pages), author Glenda Burgess retells how she unexpectedly found true love with Ken, a man 14 years her senior, someone who had lost two previous wives (one to a car accident, another to a (potentially suspicious) murder, of all things. It made me turn the pages, and when at one point Ken says out of the blue "I can't do this anymore", when the couple had 2 small children, I feared the worst (as in: he wants to leave the marriage). But Ken was referring to a corporate job he didn't want to do any longer.

After that, the book takes a completely unexpected turn, and where the book really takes off. Ken is discovered to have a cancer of some sort, and the second half of the book deals with how Glenda and Ken are dealing with this. This is when the book becomes a devastating read. I found myself choking back a number of times, particularly in the last 50 pages or so. Separate but simultaneously with all this, the author brings a great portrait of other family members, including in particular her challenging relationship with her mother. In all, I was very taken by this book. HIGHLY RECOMMENDED!

5 out of 5 stars

Visceral, Moving, Cleansing Story August 25, 2008
In my view, one cannot read too many love stories. I struck out for forty years, suffering a devastating early divorce after nine awful years. Then one day my wonderful Ginger came into my life. That was a quarter century ago. I have always credited my ability to be ready for my wife's sweet love because I took the time to read great stories about relationships. That's why I have called A Thousand Summers, by Garson Kanin, my favorite book along those lines--until I read Glenda Burgess' memoir, The Geography of Love. Glenda's book will be a part of me, and a part of my relationship tools for the next twenty-five years. Maybe beyond!

Perhaps once every couple of generations we find a book that gets up close and personal with the human condition. We had it with A Man Called Peter, by Catherine Marshall. Glenda Burgess, as fine a writer as America has produced in the last two decades, follows in the great tradition of the life well examined by absolutely nailing Georgraphy of Love.

Heart-wrenching, yet astounding in its ability to uplift, The Geography of Love chronicles the wonderful marriage of Glenda and Kenneth Grunzweig during their fifteen year union. We follow the perplexing cough that Ken developed after a photography expedition to the great Southwest, all the way through Ken's valiant struggle to stay alive for his family. We learn of Ken's tragic past--the death of two wives... The first in a tragic auto accident when he held his dying wife in his arms. Then his second wife was murdered by a serial killer. Kenneth Grunzweig had to carry the burden of being the main suspect for twenty-two long years, only being vindicated weeks before the start of his heroic battle against lung cancer.

Along the way, Ken deals as gracefully as possible with floundering family members, Glenda always at his side.

As the reader folds The Geography of Love closed for the final time, having absorbed all 306 pages, one cannot help but realize this is one book that will stay with them forever. Worthy of periodic rereads. When you need to--absolutely have to--ponder the meaning of love, loss, relationship and romance, you will know it is time to read again Glenda Burgess' magnificent The Geography of Love.

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