Title: Our Beguine: The Dance of Life
Author: Joel M. Levin, MD
Publisher: AuthorHouse
ISBN: 978-1496959478
Pages: 320
Genre: Memoir/Autobiography
Reviewed by: Ella Vincent
Hollywood Book Review
Our Beguine: The Dance of Life is a heartwarming and emotional memoir about the love story between a man and woman in Chicago for over 40 years. Joel Levin’s autobiography is a sweet tribute to love that will make readers reach for a box of tissues. Our Beguine tells the story of Joel Levin, a successful doctor, and his wife, Donna. Levin writes of how a fateful meeting at a party led to a courting and eventually happy marriage between Levin and Donna. The memoir details their lives together raising a family and being married through the many volatile changes of the last forty years. Their marriage endures many trials, especially when Donna falls ill and eventually passes away. Levin details how he copes with the loss of Donna through writing and remembering their many happy times together.
Levin’s writing is so emotional and relatable that readers will easily identify with his story. Levin’s writing has a mixture of sentimentality about the past and his life with Donna and a sober realization of a present without his beloved wife. His writing is also enhanced by adding song lyrics from certain eras he writes about in the chapters of the book. When he writes about the 50’s when he met his wife, lyrics from Fats Domino’s “Blueberry Hill” add to the portrait of the innocent time they fell in love. Lyrics from Charlie Chaplin’s “Smile” like “ Smile though your heart is breaking,” add an extra poignancy to Levin’s writing about coping with the loss of Donna.
Our Beguine not only recounts the life Levin and Donna had together, but also explores the larger spiritual questions which haunted him after Donna’s death. The memoir deftly explores how Levin’s Jewish faith and openness towards other spiritual paths helped him in his grief. Our Beguine: The Dance of Life would be best for readers who want to read about long-lasting marriages like Ruby Dee and Ossie Davis’ In This Life Together. The memoir would also be best for readers who are coping with the loss of a spouse, like Elizabeth Alexander’s The Light of the World. Additionally, this book would be good to give to people coping with loss or in grief counseling sessions.
Our Beguine tells the lovely story of the dance between two people who truly loved each other. Levin’s memoir is a beautiful tribute to his late wife which will make readers believe in true love.