Hurry to Love

The family’s summer cottage in Värmland has always been Alex’s safe space, but when his beloved father passes away, the cottage becomes a minefield of painful memories. Alex and his wife are expecting their first child when he realizes it is time to finally deal with his grief. While driving along the familiar gravel road leading up to the cottage, Alex remembers all the times he used to spend there with his dad, Allan.

During his solitary stay at the cottage, Alex is overwhelmed with memories. Wherever he turns, he sees his father: roving around the house, unravelling the fishing net by the sauna, standing down by the lake in the evenings. Walking down memory lane is both painful and bright, and it helps Alex to work through the trauma of losing his father.

The scenes from the cottage and Alex’s childhood memories are intertwined with conversations he has with his therapist, where Alex candidly talks about loss and the fear of death that has followed him throughout his life, stemming from the fact that his father was always so much older than his friends’ dads. As an adult, Alex feels the time he has with his father isn’t enough, that time is slipping away too quickly. Trying to balance his will to be at his father’s side with the demands of everyday life, he finds himself regretting not listening more when they both were younger. And now it is too late.

Hurry to Love is an honest account of growing up with an aging father. Schulman writes about his sorrow, but also about the joy, tenderness, and love that still remain after Allan’s death. Hurry to Love is a moving depiction of how an aging patriarch affects a family – and a son’s unconditional love for his father.