Until Forever - Book Review

    Luisa Cloutier’s, “Until Forever,” is a memoir and a love story about a vibrant Italian woman who tastes life's many flavors. It’s a story that spans continents and cultures. It’s written as a tribute to her husband Brandon, and her story is an elegant, witty, frank, touching, and deeply personal account of the loves both great and fleeting in her life.

    Luisa provides an intimate description of her life growing up in Napes, Italy, losing her mother, and becoming her mother’s replacement to her family.  As a young woman, she was a wallflower, shy and unsure of herself. After the prodding of friends, she finally ventures out into the world and embraces it.  She was stunningly beautiful, yet very insecure but once she meets Brandon, she is suddenly transformed and becomes quickly enamored with the handsome American serviceman. It isn’t long before she finds herself doing things that the old inhibited Luisa would have found appalling but now with Brandon, these acts of deviance and even public displays of affection felt right. She has found the man of her dreams.

     Her romance with Brandon is faced with many obstacles and dilemmas, a father who is not in favor of her paramour, her feeling of an obligation to the family to stay in Italy and take care of her siblings, and their language barrier, is just to name a few of the overwhelming  issues the couple faced. 

    In fact, in the very beginning of the romance, their lack of fluency of each other’s language cause numerous misunderstandings. Luisa chronicles her endeavor and often hilarious journey of learning Brandon’s native tongue of English. Her transcultural translation of what she thought she was saying during her wedding ceremony is quite humorous to read.

    In this irresistible memoir, Luisa shares fascinating details of her life that are often deeply touching. Later in her story you see Luisa as a cool, alluring woman who celebrates her relationship with Brandon that she paints as sensual and full of vibrant life. It is a surprisingly meaty memoir that reads as a very candid and captivating account of her life.  When tragedy strikes, she displays resilience but can’t hide her broken heart and finds herself a virtual prisoner of her past.  She is tormented by her memories of Brandon, and he becomes a sort of ghost that is constantly haunting her. Luisa's story is firmly rooted in everyday reality, but there is a fable-like quality to its telling that adds a layer of transcendence.

    The question remains, once you have tasted true love and lost it, can it ever be experienced again?  Read Luisa Cloutier’s, “Until Forever,” and discover if she rises with ease from her loss, capturing our attention, engaging our sympathies, and stealing our hearts.