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The Presence
 
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The Presence (Hardcover)

by Dannie Abse (Author)
4.4 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (5 customer reviews)
Price: £15.99 & this item Delivered FREE in the UK with Super Saver Delivery. See details and conditions
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Frequently Bought Together

The Presence + Running Late + Ash on a Young Man's Sleeve (Library of Wales)
Price For All Three: £28.67

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  • This item: The Presence by Dannie Abse

    In stock but may require up to 2 additional days to deliver.
    Dispatched from and sold by Amazon.co.uk.
    This item Delivered FREE in the UK with Super Saver Delivery. See details and conditions

  • Running Late by Dannie Abse

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    Dispatched from and sold by Amazon.co.uk.
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  • Ash on a Young Man's Sleeve (Library of Wales) by Dannie Abse

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Product details

  • Hardcover: 192 pages
  • Publisher: Hutchinson (5 Jul 2007)
  • Language English
  • ISBN-10: 0091796334
  • ISBN-13: 978-0091796334
  • Product Dimensions: 18.4 x 13.2 x 3 cm
  • Average Customer Review: 4.4 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (5 customer reviews)
  • Amazon.co.uk Sales Rank: 130,052 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

    Popular in this category:

    #77 in  Books > Biography > Social & Health Issues > Family & Marriage

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Product Description

Boyd Tonkin, Independent

'A supremely fresh and vital performance, matching profound
emotion with witty observation... This is a truly marvellous book'


Sunday Times

'A remarkable and tender document'
See all Product Description

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The Presence
90% buy the item featured on this page:
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Customer Reviews

5 Reviews
5 star:
 (2)
4 star:
 (3)
3 star:    (0)
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Average Customer Review
4.4 out of 5 stars (5 customer reviews)
 
 
 
 
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Most Helpful Customer Reviews

 
17 of 17 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars A moving tribute, 14 Oct 2008
By Henry J. Blackmore (Western Australia) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   
Dr Dannie Abse has written a moving tribute to his departed beloved partner after 50 years. As a retired psychiatrist I found his self-assessment of his bereaved state deeply touching, particularly because I and my wife have been together nigh on sixty years in a loving companionship too. A reason for reading this book was my anticipation how I might cope if my wife predeceases me and I am left, like Dr Abse, musing over wonderful memories. I liked the way he juxtaposed the present with the past in his diary, and the appropriate, often amusing, anecdotes interspersed throughout. My belated sincere condolences and my hope that his loss has been alleviated by writing and sharing with others. PS: I must sadly confess to being a poetry-philistine, but I'm sure the "poetry-enamoured" will appreciate Dr Abse's poems.
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2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars A moving tribute to lost love, 18 Jul 2009
By Mrs. K. A. Wheatley "katywheatley" (Leicester, UK) - See all my reviews
(TOP 100 REVIEWER)    (REAL NAME)      
This review is from: The Presence (Paperback)
Dannie Abse lost his beloved wife Joan in a car accident in which he survived. Here he charts his progress in a kind of diary/memoir of the year after her death.

It is gentle, emotional without being sentimental and full of wonderful poems (not just his own) and quotations from which he has found strength or the perfect way to express his feelings.

This is not just a book about grief, it is a book which celebrates and reveres a deep and lasting love for another human being, one which shaped his life and understanding. His attempts to navigate life without that presence is truly touching.
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1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars A difficult territory, 2 Jul 2009
By Keith Miller (Bedford, UK) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   
This review is from: The Presence (Paperback)
This moving journal charts Abse's reactions during the year after he lost his wife, Joan, in a traffic accident. Having lost my daughter in a traffic accident nearly a year ago I found it comforting to read his words - it made me realise that the range of feelings I have are not unique: that I am not mad ... but that the grief one feels when an innocent loved one is killed in this way is complex and long-lasting. He is an eloquent guide to this difficult territory ... at times, so 'eloquent' that I found myself having to consult the Shorter Oxford English Dictionary in order to understand some of his words - and this, despite having a master's degree in English! However, maybe such a difficult journey needs difficult language to try to explain things at times.

The journal also includes various poems - both by Abse and other writers -that shed light on his feelings.

This is a moving book - but it is not unremittingly bleak: at times it will make the reader laugh as well as cry. Whilst I obviously found it struck a special chord for me, I don't feel that you have to be grief-stricken in order to appreciate Abse's evocation of his wife's presence and the charting of his journey through the year following her death ... indeed, it would be foolish to make such an assumption, just as it would to make the assumption that a reader has to be old and have ungrateful children in order to appreciate 'King Lear'!

Abse is famous as a poet, but he is a fine writer of prose too, as this journal attests. I recommend the book - buy it - you won't be disappointed.
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 		 Most Recent Customer Reviews

5.0 out of 5 stars Now part of my life
Although this is a book about pain and loss, it is somehow consoling and a book I return to. It contains life at its best and at its worst, funny and tragic. Read more
Published 2 days ago by B. Handcock

4.0 out of 5 stars Grieving
This book would provide thought provoking and comfort councelling for anyone who has lost a loved one
Published 3 months ago by Soneryd

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