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Summary: Love & Fear: Searching for the Unimaginable Life
Review: Hull's book delves into the unfulfilling life of Patrick Delaney, the personal tragedy of war, love & loss, and the realities of old age. The author has chosen a style of writing that moves frequently between periods of Delaney's chaotic life; it is for the reader to ponder the quality, value and legacy of that life. Many reviewers have found Delaney's life story to be romantic and memorable; I find him to be melancholy and uninspiring. My sense is that the story is really Hull's attempt to resolve his own mid-life matters: what have I accomplished with my life, who have I wronged, have I learned to love, am I a loving person, how will I cope with old age, what is my legacy, etc. I am left with the sense, however, that the author is still struggling to accomplish that task and leaves the reader to wrestle with the same issues. Many readers may now be drawn to this book as it gives a graphic perspective of the horrors of war and the honor, bravery, stoicism, naivete and other qualities of soldiers. There is value in understanding the vicissitudes and aftermath of combat. Daniel, Julia's first love and Patrick's comrade in arms, paid the supreme sacrifice; surely, Patrick and Julia (and their families) were affected by it for the rest of their lives, too. While the book makes a compelling statement about the horror of war, it does an injustice to the transforming power of love. It is interesting to note, too, how little attention other reviewers have paid to Daniel. Truly, he is our hero. It is he who knew love, surrendered his life to love and gave love - freely and completely. In my opinion, Daniel knew his fate (at least the rational odds of what he would face) and chose to live in a giving, spirited manner even in the most difficult of circumstances imaginable. Julia may have finally understood the gift of love that Daniel gave her and shared that love with others; I don't believe Patrick ever did. Perhaps the tragedy of Patrick's life can be a guide for all of us to realize the gift of love that we have been given by those, similar to Daniel, who touch our lives if but for a brief moment, to know the transforming power of that love, to live a life of love even now when we are challenged by forces of fear and hate that we do not understand and cannot control.
Rating: 
Summary: Beautifully written
Review: I think you can tell from the number of reviews, how well this first novel was received. I was impressed and moved at the writing style of this author. I loved how he weaved the elements of life\death, comedy, tradedy, love\hate. Everyone will relate to some aspect of this book, a must read if there is one.
Rating:
Summary: Literature a man or woman would enjoy
Review: This is an exceptional novel, to say the least. This is a story told by a man at 3 different times in his life. The author's descriptive writing of WWI was perfect and gives the reader the understanding of how grusome the front line was. But also the story conveys the closeness and familiarity of the soldiers during their lives traveling to the front line. It's quite an appreciated lesson in history. Patrick's bonding and friendship with Daniel is touching, in a masculine way, and carries over to has caring of Julia.
The wonderful story from an 81 year old's view of his life is so amazingly real. This story should make any reader view their elders in a new way. The storyline is so perfect. At times it is a little depressing but that's because this story is so real and life is depressing at times. But this story is also blissful at times. The love and care that is obviously given by Patrick to everyone connected to him is the bittersweet part of this story.
I highly recommend everyone to read this book. It would be enjoyed by men and women. It's an excellent history lesson as well as a lesson about life. I am very glad that I read this book.
Rating: 
Summary: Great novel
Review: This book was recommended to us by family members, and we are recommending it to others. Both my husband and I enjoyed it, a rare occurrence. We both related to the aging character and are surprised that the author appears to be too young to have experienced these feelings. He must have a great research source. The World War I details were a mini-history lesson.
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Summary: Stirring Story of A Love That Transcends A Lifetime
Review: I want to say "Thank you" to Jonathan Hull for writing this mesmerizing story that will surely appeal to both men and women. Patrick Delaney's story is told in three time frames: as an 18-year-old American fighting in France during World War I; ten years later when he meets Julia, the girl his best friend Daniel loves, and as an 81-year-old in a nursing home awaiting death and hoping that his final words are more profound than "Where's my Metamuscil?" From the bloody war scenes to the romantic love scenes, this book offers readers the most intriguing love triangle I have come across in literature. Patrick spends his life struggling between love and loss, having his obsession with Julia change his life, destroy his marriage, but give him something to hope for, something to look back on and smile about. Readers will laugh and cry, often on the same page, as an old man suffers the indignities of impending death yet remembers the high points of his youth. There are so many memorable passages in this book that I literally took a highlighter pen and marked them so I could go back and read certain parts over and over. It's most unusual for me to deface a book in this way, but this is one not only to read for the pure pleasure of the story but also to glean insights from the author's extraordinary reflections on the human spirit. Patrick learns from Julia what really matters in life---having someone to love, being compassionate, being fully alive every day so that you really see and hear and smell and feel things. Julia gives Patrick that chance to never be lonely as her spirit remains with him every day of his life. Share Patrick's life, the deep distress that humanizes him, the humor that sustains him, and the love that he could never forget. I doubt anyone who reads this book will ever forget Patrick or Julia or Daniel---and what the three of them meant to each other.
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Summary: I couldn't put the book down
Review: What can I say about this book that the other reviews have not already? I read the book from cover to cover in 6 hours, non-stop. What a wonderful, intriguing story for a first time novel from Jonathan Hull - I hope we see more from him, I'm hooked, and it takes a special kind of book to keep my interest. Especially after I read the first few pages, if it doesn't catch my interest, I put the book down. If I were a writer, this is how I would want my writing to come across in the pages. The book caught my interest from the very beginning and kept my interest through to the very end. I think the author has evidently picked up some very real life situations and feelings. I loved the history of the war, the friends that Patrick made that influenced his life until his death. And the feelings of old age that he went through. Most of all, it reminded me so much of real life, and real people. Isn't it really all the same, only our circumstances are different? This is definitely not a sappy love story, this is something that really does happen in people's lives, I can attest to that. I hope Jonathan Hull keeps writing, I loved "Losing Julia", and it would be great to meet the author and read more of his writing.
Rating:
Summary: It changed me
Review: It did change me. This book was able to say a few things about love and life that I haven't found the words to say myself. It hit upon things that have special meaning for me. I honestly don't understand the bad reviews it recieved from various readers. To me the book was well written and touched upon many things that we take for granted every day. I loved the exploration into life in a nursing home as I have worked in a few and always felt that the elderly get a real bum deal. This book can really teach a good lesson about what we take for granted, how little time we actually have to love and laugh, and about what it means to sieze the moment. Read it and if you have a heart you will love it.
Rating: 
Summary: Easy read
Review: I thought it was a nostalgic, romance story ... nothing more. Didn't find it well written, though the slant on old age was somewhat interesting ... Angle of Repose by W. Stegner did it better. Sort of read I'd buy as a last resort whilst browsing at the airport gift shop or expect to find on a vacation rental's bookshelf. And that pat ending, give me a break - may as well have tied it up with a big bow!
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Summary: Too beautiful for words
Review: I have never read a book like this one. I almost didn't pick it up to read again because the going-backs to the past and heading into the future were making me dizzy ... till I got the hang of the story. And I couldn't put it down from then on. If I could, I would rate it a 10! It's that good!! Patrick Delaney was facing the end of his life and began contemplating the past ~~ to revisit the memories of his buddies from World War One, especially Daniel, his best friend who was killed in the war. Daniel was one of the rare men who have found love with Julia and through her letters to Daniel, Patrick fell in love with her. By a chance meeting in Paris ten years after the war, Patrick and Julia meet and fall in love. Patrick was married at the time and had a child and the confusion, longings and desires he had felt were so heartrending that one can't help but feel his pain and sorrow with him. Years later when Patrick's marriage fell apart, he never married again as he was haunted by his love for Julia. Hull writes so convincingly of the days of a man facing death, shut up in a nursing home; traveling down memory lane wishing he had done things differently and trying to find the purpose of his life so he doesn't feel he lived in vain. You are trapped in an old man's body with Patrick and you feel the young man inside bemoaning how fast time travels. One day he was a jaunty soldier on his way to France ~~ his jauntiness hiding his fears and loneliness. Then the next day, he's an old man dying alone. This is the most beautifully written book I have ever read. It sounds depressing on the blurbs but I advise you to ignore that. It is really not depressing ~~ it does have its depressing moments ~~ but it is freeing too. When life slows almost to a stop, one begins to realize that the hustle-bustle of our daily lives really don't mean anything. Only love matters ~~ where you hold your loved ones close; the touch of a lover's hand on your arm as you talk; the love of a child who runs into your arms ... all give meaning to your existence. Hull writes beautifully and movingly of the love we all search for in our dreams and he carries you along with his beautiful vision. This is the most incredible romantic book I have ever read. And it helps that it is also lyrical as you travel through the years with Patrick as he searches for his one love ~~ Julia. And while it sounds sappy, it's not. I highly recommend this book for anyone to read. It's a gem of a book to add to your book collection.
Rating:
Summary: Fabulous
Review: What a book! I just finished it and was so sorry to see it come to an end. Jonathan Hull is such a storyteller. I laughed and cried. I truly felt that I could reach out and touch the characters, Patrick, Julia and Daniel, as he brought them to life. I anxiously await the next book from this author and this is a book that is highly recommended.
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