Book: Love's Labour by Stephen Grosz

They had loved and hated,

but they were still a couple, 

still doing love's labour ...

Luminous and necessary stories from the psychoanalyst's consulting room; on desire, heartbreak and learning how to love.

When it comes to love why do we find things so difficult? Drawing on over forty years of candid and surprising conversations with his patients, Stephen Grosz asks, what gets in the way of our falling in love? And what must we do to stay there? Penguin UK.

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'Ravi, a maths lecturer, is tormented by his wife Sonal's supposed infidelity, but won't look at the CCTV - even though that might reveal her to be innocent. This chapter has a sting in its tail when 19 years later Grosz is contacted by Sonal. She is dying of cancer and Ravi is cruelly neglecting her. Grosz feels that he missed a vital clue all those years ago, concerning Ravi's ingratitude and envy.

This moment of "failure" on Grosz's part forms an aspect of this small book's power. It shows that the psychoanalyst is not a machine, and the process is fallible. But it is also a testament to human complexity. When he hasn't understood the patient sufficiently, Grosz brings the case to his supervisor, and we, the reader, are witness to their exchange.' Life&Arts, FTWeekend.

Individual

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      INTERPERSONAL    :     SCIENCES               

HUMANISTIC =========================  MECHANISTIC      

 SOCIOLOGY  :    POLITICAL 

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Group

love's labour

My source: Kathy O'Shaughnessy. The hard work of seeing ourselves. Books, Life&Arts, FTWeekend, 27-28 September 2025, p.11.

Stephen Grosz, Love's Labour

Iamge: https://cdn2.penguin.com.au/covers/400/9780701188979.jpg