Review : Creatures of a Day by Irvin D. Yalom

From time to time, I like to read a book on psychology. When they are well written, they can make me a better writer because they give me an Insite into the human mind. More than that, many of the best characters in fiction could certainly do with some time in therapy. That said, I’m not sure what I was expecting from Irvin D. Yalom’s Creatures of a Day, but I didn’t get it.

This book is actually quite clear about what it is in the directions. It is stories of people who Irvin Yalom has seen and helped. Many of them people he saw only a short while and several who died. That is it. He talks about what he was thinking about when he talked to them, but he doesn’t really explain how or why he helped them, and he isn’t trying to teach someone to be a psychologist. He simply tells stories of people who came to him, what they talked about and what happened.

It took me longer than it should have to put together than most of these stories are about death. The title “Creatures of a Day” probably should have tipped me off to that, but I’m not a poet, and while I read the description that points about dying and leading a life worth living, it didn’t really hit me. That’s probably a good thing because I’m not sure I would have sat down and read a book about dying on a random Tuesday.

One of the very best things about this is how much you really feel like you spent some time with the people who Irvin describes. Whether it is a Russian dancer who never quite got over her youth or a woman dying of cancer, you feel you get some glimpse of them, and yet Irvin is careful to clarify that all you have is a glimpse. Many of these people he knew for years and yet he saw only parts of them, perhaps deeper parts but still parts. The main character that you see throughout the book is of course Irvin D. Yalom himself. That made me want to go to therapy more than most of the books I have read on psychology, perhaps because I feel closer to the people here than in the abnormal psychology books I gravitate towards, though that may just me flattering myself.

I wouldn’t have minded a bit more commentary in the book. That isn’t what the book is, and I’m not sure that it would have been compatible with what Irvin was trying to say, but I could sense a great deal of wisdom that I would like to have tapped a bit more. Perhaps in the future I’ll pick up some more of his books.

This isn’t the type of book you recommend to everyone. I’m not sure who exactly I would recommend it to. As a writer, I found the characters in this book useful and some aspects of the people are likely to make their way into my books, but that’s a limited value for a few people. The other group that this is meant for is those wrestling with death. Perhaps if you are ill or dying, this would be the ideal book. I can’t speak to that except to say that I think it’s worth your time. For those who have lost others, perhaps. But I can say this, I understand his statement that fear of death is often strongly connected to not believing you’ve fully lived your life and whether or not you read the book, perhaps you can use that bit of wisdom.