‘In Love's Executioner, Irv Yalom invented a new literary genre: narratives of psychotherapy with the pathos of great fiction and the insight of great essays. For those of us who learned so much about human nature and the human condition from Yalom, the publication of Creatures of a Day is a reason to celebrate.’
Steven Pinker, Johnstone Family Professor of Psychology at Harvard University, author of How the Mind Works, and The Sense of Style
‘I‘ve been a deep admirer of Irvin D. Yalom’s writing — in fiction and nonfiction — for many years. In Creatures of a Day he brings together his profound sense of human suffering and joy with a novelist’s eye for detail, for narrative moment. These tales of therapy ring with truth, inviting us to consider the most pressing (moral, spiritual) questions with awe, with hope for transformation. A moving and original work.’
Jay Parini, author of The Last Station
‘These individual accounts of emotional challenges and resolutions shine a brilliant light on what it means to be human and to need help. Together they disprove the book's title in a glorious way: they are a permanent beacon of sanity and compassion and thus transcend the very fact of mortality that they often concern.’
Daniel Menaker, author of The Treatment and My Mistake: a memoir
‘Dr Yalom has written a magical book. Anyone who has ever thought about his or her own ageing or mortality will love this book. The result will be that of meeting, up close, a truly wise man, a really kind man, and of feeling deeply understood.’
George Valliant, professor of psychiatry at Harvard University, author of Triumphs of Experience, and Ageing Well
‘Yalom keeps the reader enticed with personal narratives that are concise, profound and well-woven into his overarching theme … Creatures of a Day embraces the power of human resilience. And by demonstrating the capacity to repair and better ourselves through an authentic healing relationship, this book presents us with a remedy more powerful than any fad or pill could promise.’
Chris Lyford, The Washington Post
‘A poignant and bracing collection of stories based on [Yalom’s] therapeutic work. Yalom, a published novelist with decades of clinical experience, offers vivid and generous descriptions of patients brought face-to-face with their mortality … Watching “Irv”, as his patients call him, convince patients to unpack their baggage is the chief pleasure of this book. He is overtly kind, sympathetic, and generous, but subtly merciless.’
Los Angeles Review of Books
‘Yalom sees the therapist as a poet. He sees therapy as an art. And he sees his clients as fellow poets, working the high wire, along and with him.’
Patrick T. Reardon, Chicago Tribune
‘Personal, honest, sensitive, and respectful … This book will inspire therapists at any stage along with lay readers intrigued by the psyche, relationships, and the possibilities of change.’
E. James Lieberman, Library Journal, starred review
‘Novelist and psychiatrist Yalom offers 10 tales from his clients that illuminate the gifts of psychotherapy, particularly the hopeful lessons one can glean from it in the context of aging and death … [He] has genuinely inspiring insights to share about the value of therapy … The stories Yalom offers of his patients’ failures and triumphs are frequently moving and will invoke the reader’s empathy.’
Publishers Weekly
‘[Yalom] writes amiably, certainly sympathetically, and always wisely from his point of view as an octogenarian therapist who has seen it all — well, maybe almost all — and how has some useful thoughts about the mysteries of the mind … A humane, highly knowledgeable glimpse of the therapist’s couch.’
Kirkus Reviews
‘Creatures of a Day is a series of moving, if partly fictionalized, tales illuminating Yalom’s hand-crafted approach to treating grief, loss, regret and, above all, encroaching mortality … [Yalom] is a student of the human condition whose literary, as well as therapeutic, voice mixes wonder and humility.’
Boston Globe
‘This book is the best of its kind I've read to date, offering a tender and credible look behind the curtain, through a powerful series of vignettes … Creatures of a Day presents real cases that not only highlight the soulful transformation that can take place within the therapeutic relationship, but are also grounded in truth … Whether you’ve been or want to be a therapist, a client or both, this book is incredibly powerful.’
Miranda Palmer, PsychCentral
‘[A] stunning collection of essays chronicling [Yalom’s] years as a therapist.’
Salon
