Physician and medical lecturer Dr. Al Achkar reflects on love in A LOVE ATTEMPT as he battles Stage IV lung cancer. For the author, the concept of love is as much or more about our actions than our emotions. “I insist that we not think of love as that warm, fuzzy feeling.” It is obvious that this work is very much his own labor of love for his fellow humans and it does ring with sincerity. “Think about the person who loved you, and reflect on their actions,” the author urges. Practice what they did for you with others, “and that would be love.”
Al Achkar delves into the many kinds of love that humans experience, whether in giving or receiving, and how to strengthen our own personal relationship with each kind. He talks about climbing “the ladder of love” one rung at a time, developing the “competency for love.” One’s own authenticity as a person is key and feeling a need to serve others in ways that honestly focus on them, not oneself. There are some practical ‘exercises’ at the end of a couple of chapters to help the reader with next steps and actions to take. The Listen and Love section most resembles a self-help guide. Al Achkar discusses in concrete terms things like intention, norms, and expectations, as well as meaning and context within the art of communication. “Listening is an act.” He rightly emphasizes that we must take away some learning from our listening.
However, the weaknesses in A LOVE ATTEMPT range from generous sprinklings of amateur psychology (“When a person is depressed they may feel little interest in participating in activities with others . . . they’re just not feeling it”) to single paragraphs that range in topics from ruminations on dating advice to helping a wronged friend to voting and politics. The narrative feels consistently disjointed, weaving back and forth between deep abstractions and trite advice column ‘talk.’ Al Achkar is honest about his motivation: “I’m writing this book as if it is the last thing I will do.”
A LOVE ATTEMPT is a short, passionate, and well-intentioned book as well as a brave and loving project. For some readers, that mission will be enough.
~Kathleen Kenney Peterson for IndieReader