Not much memoir. Mostly Common sharing what he thinks about himself. What events that are described, they serve as paths to more talk about what he thinks about himself. ( )

For most of the book, I felt this book was on the line between okay and worth reading. The last chapter, despite being only 3 pages, just pulled so much together that I decided on a 4 star rating.

The way that the book is written, it feels as if Common is relating things to the reader just as or just after they have happened. In some ways, it gives a feeling of intimacy, but also feels like a rather unique choice for a memoir.

There are moments that feel repetitious as he write about his thoughts and explorations around love. And, he doesn't shy away from mentioning his faith - though he doesn't go much farther in this book then attributing God for his source of inspiration for living and "let[ting] love have the last word."

While he does include moments from his life and about various relationships - mostly with family - it feels less like a memoir overall, and more like a long reflective essay of sorts. ( )

In Let Love Have the Last Word, Common shares what life has taught him about love in every sense of the word. He writes from a place of openness and humility, and in this, he succeeds in relating to the audience. While I understand that this is a memoir of sorts, at times, it felt almost too introspective, as if each chapter was a new journal entry. This format definitely has its place, and while others may connect more with the way that this book was written, it was a little too circular and repetitive for me. I've read a number of reviews that mention that the audio version is excellent. I can definitely see how this would be better as an audiobook. I really wanted to like this more than I did, and while it fell a little flat for me, the overall message is one that we can all benefit from. ( )