All There Is: Love Stories from StoryCorps by Dave Isay

All There Is: Love Stories from StoryCorps by Dave Isay

My rating: 5 of 5 stars

Goodreads: A celebration of love from StoryCorps.

In All There Is, founder Dave Isay shares stories of love and marriage from the revolutionary oral history project, revealing the many and remarkable paths that relationships can take.

From the excitement and anticipation of courtship to the deep connection of lifelong commitment, we discover that love is found in the most unexpected of places-a New York toll booth, a military base in Iraq, an airport lounge. As the storytellers in this book start careers, build homes, and raise families, we witness the life-affirming joy of partnership, the comfort of shared sorrows, and profound gratitude in the face of loss.

These stories are also testament to love's remarkable endurance. Love survives discrimination, illness, poverty, time-even death. In the courage of people's passion we are reminded of the strength and resilience of the human spirit and its enduring capacity to begin anew. This powerful collection bears witness to real love, in its many varied forms, enriching our understanding of that most magical feeling.

My take: I love the concept of this book! It's a company that sets up shop and ordinary people go into a booth where with another person and a moderator. They interview one another or just tell their story. A prompt might be: If you have only 45 minutes to live, what legacy would you leave? They tell their stories of love, loss, heartbreak, and happiness. The stories run the gamut of love; from young marriages, to people in their 90's, those who survived WWII, gay couples, those who lost loved ones during the 9/11 attacks, lost then found loves.

The most moving were the stories of 9/11 and those that have lasted through decades of ups and downs. The book is organized in three parts. Nearly every story brought an emotional response. Mostly, I felt the hope.