Michael Rosen wasn't feeling well. Soon he was struggling to breathe, and then he was admitted to hospital, suffering from coronavirus as the nation teetered on the edge of a global pandemic. What followed was months on the wards: six weeks in an induced coma, and many more weeks of rehab and recovery as the NHS saved Michael's life, and then got him back on his feet. Throughout Michael's stay in intensive care, a notebook lay at the end of his bed, where the nurses who cared for him wrote letters of hope and support. Embarking on the long road to recovery, Michael was soon ready to start writing about his near-death experience.

A brilliant version of the events through Michael's experience of Covid last year. It includes text messages from family and notes left from all the different staff that cared for Michael in hospital and rehab. The notes were left in a notebook, over the weeks in intensive care and months of debilitating illness, trying and learning to breathe.
It is candid, it is poetic, deeply moving and above all real. The descriptions and comments show the real story of so many dedicated staff and what it means to be a recipient of their care. Just beautiful.

This is a first for me by the author and one I enjoyed and would read more of their work. The book cover is eye-catching and appealing and would spark my interest if in a bookshop. Thank you very much to the author, publisher and Netgalley for this ARC.

What a beautiful and heartwarming book of one mans journey with Covid told through Prose, letters and diary eateries as he battled to survive in hospital and his long road to recover. This does not sugar coat the realities of Covid 19 but does show there is hope even in the darkest of places.

What a great read! Told initially through NHS staff and Michael’s wife, this is the story of covid and Michael’s fight for his life and subsequent recovery. As always, Michael has a way of telling a story. A great read.

A book that reminds you sharply how many people have suffered through this pandemic and how lucky Michael was to get through it (although a huge part of that luck is of course the medical care he was given).

You see the pandemic through Michael's eyes: from the start when it was just presumed he had flu or a similar dibilitating virus to the diagnosis of covid (Michael had the virus early on in the pandemic), and the sudden downhill trend that his health took.

After several setbacks, Michael recovered from the virus and is still recovering from the after-effects. His story makes us realise how many people didn't recover.

The story is well written and in chronological order, told by Michael through diary entries and poetry, and clinicians and family.

And soon Michael will be well enough to go on another bear hunt. (He's going to catch a big one. It's a beautiful day. He's not scared!)

Thank you for the opportunity to read 'Many Different Kinds of Love' by Michael Rosen.

I have long been a fan of Michael Rosen and taken my children to see him speak - he's wonderful. This book, about his journey with Covid, is beautiful - so movingly written. We are all just so lucky that he survived! His admiration for the NHS staff is obvious and I was amazed at their thoughtfulness to keep diaries for each ICU patient so that they and their families could be reassured about how lovingly they were cared for.

A book everyone should read!

This was a wonderful and heartbreaking book, had me in tears throughout. Wanted it to be more political towards the end, however

Many Different Kinds of Love has the subtitle ‘A story of life, death and the NHS’. This book is a thank you to the NHS healthcare professionals and helpers who looked after Michael Rosen when he caught Covid-19 last year. These weren’t just doctors and nurses, but also speech & language therapists and physios, all working out of their own comfort zone to help on the frontline.
Michael Rosen can’t describe most of his ICU experience, as he spent 48 days in an induced coma. But this diary of his hospital stay uses a mixture of poems and letters from hospital staff, family and friends to provide an honest account of what it feels like to care for someone with severe Covid. Michael Rosen talks about not just how he felt physically during his recovery and rehab, but emotionally too – revealing his frailty and fragility. He shows warmth and gratitude for the people who saved his life, and anger towards those who deny the seriousness of the pandemic. This book is full of raw emotion – sad, honest and thought-provoking, but also uplifting, heartwarming and enlightening. A joy to read!

I read most of this book through tears, some were tears of sadness while the horrid events of Rosen’s hospital stay unfolded and others were tears of joy as he took us through his early stages of his ongoing recovery. The diary entries from the staff that looked after Rosen were the perfect way to highlight how hard the NHS has worked to give their patients the treatment, care & dignity that they not only urgently need but deserve. The variety of staff that were involved in his care was incredible and Rosen is just one patient, the scale of the challenge for our health service has been immense. The NHS community have made so many sacrifices to help save lives and this gives you an emotional glance at the humanity behind the pandemic.

Michael Rosen’s words are, as expected, compelling. This book should be mandatory reading!

The illustrations by Chris Riddell were quite emotional showing the frailty of someone so beloved.

This is a remarkable, profoundly moving account of much loved treasure, poet and children's writer, Michael Rosen's traumatic experience of contracting Covid 19 at the beginning of the pandemic, one of the first books of the deadly disease from the perspectives of a patient, and the amazing medics and care volunteers in ICU who looked after him within our incredible NHS. Michael was so fortunate that his friend Dr Katie and her oxygen saturation test led to him being admitted at the Whittington Hospital just in time. He is put on a ventilator, without which he would have had no chance, and is in an induced coma for a month. Pictures of his family are pinned above his bed, along with his famous poem, These Are the Hands, that celebrates the wonder that is the NHS.

There was no certainty that he would survive, as we know, so many did not, Michael thankfully did, although he is to spend months in recovery and rehab, a hard and troubling road to regaining his functions and some semblance of the man he used to be. Obviously Michael could not relate what happened to him whilst he was in a coma, so here we are given details notes, written by the inspiring volunteers and medical staff who watched over him, in a journal, pouring out their support, love, goodwill and best wishes for his recovery. Included are emails from Emma, Michael's wife, giving updates on his condition, she and the family were unable to visit or see Michael whilst his life hung in the balance, being supportive and loving, as they hoped for the best, such a long worrying period of waiting until he returns home from the Land of the Dead.

I had tears pouring down my face, I may even have howled as I read Michael's wonderful poetic prose on making his way through Covid, his questioning of the politicians that mismanaged the pandemic and the madness of the conspiracy theorists, and above all else, his gratitude to the NHS and all those who selflessly cared for him. He outlines a call for, a manifesto, that we all tap into the many different kinds of love present in our world, and that without that love, we will destroy ourselves. A beautifully riveting, timely and emotionally tearful read, that I think so many will find informative and moving, full of hope, of one man's Covid experience and survival. Highly recommended. Many thanks to Random House Ebury for an ARC.

I’ve mentioned here before that Michael Rosen is one of my literary heroes, especially for his work with children. On a number of occasions I have been lucky enough to experience how this man can totally captivate a school hall full of children who hang on his every word. His “Quick, Let’s Get Out Of Here” collection is one of my favourite children’s books ever. And last year we almost lost him, hospitalised with Covid just around the time the first lockdown started, his illness made everything seem more grim and even more scary.
After 13 days in bed with what was diagnosed as just a viral illness the writer was hospitalised when a GP friend witnessed his blood oxygen reading of 58, the lowest she had ever seen on a conscious person. Following time in intensive care he was put in an induced coma on a ventilator remaining in the ICU ward for 46 days before beginning rehabilitation and having to relearn basic functions the disease had stripped from him like standing up and walking.
This collection is subtitled “A Story Of Life, Death & The NHS”. In a sequence of prose poems Rosen catalogues his illness and recovery. Alongside this is the extraordinary response from the staff who cared for him who maintained a diary throughout to boost his recovery. These people were exhausted, often redeployed from their usual job and no doubt stressed beyond belief but they made the time to communicate with this comatose man in this way and these diary entries form an extremely moving section of the book. Above the bed they placed a copy of his “These Are The Hands” poem produced for the 60th anniversary of the NHS.
I really always enjoy Michael Rosen’s poetic style, direct, closely observed and dealing here with painful honesty the effects this cruel virus has had on him. When we are moaning about lockdown restrictions and posing conspiracy theories it’s important to feel the voice of those affected and Michael Rosen’s experience speaks for the thousands who have been similarly affected and for those thousands we have lost.
He always has the ability to find humour in the ridiculous even in the darkest moments.
“They’ve been worried
about my low blood pressure
but they’ve brought me the Daily Mail
so it’ll be fine in a moment."
I read this on the anniversary of the first lockdown and there was no better way to get me to reflect on the year’s events and how it has hit this very special person. This is a magnificent work which has been beautifully put together by the author and Penguin Books. It will prove to be a lasting testament to the talent and tenacity of this man and of a reminder of the year the strange times we have been living in.
Many Different Types Of Love was published by Ebury Press, a division of Penguin Random House 18th March 2021. Many thanks to the publishers and Netgalley for the review copy.

Moving, funny, grateful, hopeful, strong, loving.......... Michael Rosen manages to fit all this and more into this paean of praise for the NHS and his family after his battle with COVID, which very nearly ended his life. This is a very special little book, balm for the soul of those who have escaped this dreadful disease, and food for thought for those who are uncertain about accepting a vaccine. As with everything he writes, the style is fluid and beautiful, without an extraneous word - there is something here for everyone.

This is a very honest memoir of Michael Rosen's last year from contracting CoVid 19 in March 2020 to his ongoing recovery in March 2021. It includes a diary of notes/letters kept at his bedside and written in each night by the Intensive Care staff looking after him 24-7, to thoughts of his own and details of his illness, time spent in hospital, rehabilitation, to finally coming home.

A perfect read to celebrate how far the world has come in just a year and how lucky we are that so many did survive, have gone on to share their stories, and the praise and gratitude we have for all the NHS staff and keyworkers do for us every day.

I've just got a soft spot for Michael Rosen I knew I would have to read this book whatever. It didn't disappoint me and allowed me to glimpse this love he talks about. Having worked as a nurse for over 40 years and now retired I have time to look back and study the patients experiences. I get heart from reading this that despite our crises, there is love around, it costs nothing and makes a difference. Michael's story will help many and undo some of the stigma associated with failing health. Well done Michael and I hope your progress continues well. Most of all thank you.

Beautiful, touching, witty and hopeful, all bundled together through the wonderful voice of Michael Rosen.

Many Different Kinds of Love: A story of life, death and the NHS by Michael Rosen.
Rating ***** 4.8/5
The true story of the huge struggle to survive and come to terms with the effects of Covid 19 brilliantly told by the patient, Michael Rosen.
Everyone played a part: from his wife and family, the GP friend, the medics, all the NHS. The messages left in a notebook by some of those who cared for Mr Rosen were both a joy and heart wrenching to read. What was totally surprising was they were all from such a vast area of specialities
and thrust into the roles needed in intensive care.
The book also covers the feelings of guilt: how did I catch this, what could I have done differently. It raised many questions.
The delirium, was particularly poignant, trying to fathom out what was real and what wasn’t.
Whist this may be a novel covering life and death, it is also one of hope and dedication, at times humorous. It is hugely one of Michael Rosen’s gratitude and, on behalf of swathes of our nation, to all those members of the NHS.
Thank you to Michael Rosen for giving me the opportunity to read this brilliantly written book and to Penguin Random House and NetGalley. In return I have written an unbiased and honest review.
Highly recommended.

Deeply moving and vivid account of Michael Rosen’s battle with Covid. Written with insight and empathy, the text is enhanced by illustrations by Chris Riddell and some poignant poems from Rosen himself. It’s a short book but a powerful one, a worthy tribute to the NHS.

It will be common knowledge that the much loved children’s author Micael Rosen caught Covid-19 in March last year and rapidly deteriorated to the point of needing hospitalisation. The advice at the time was Do not attend A & E , Do not go to your Dr’s surgery. Fortunately for everyone, a local GP and friend came to the door with a newly arrived gadget for measuring the oxygen level in his bloodstream, which was so low that it was surprising he was conscious. His wife, Emma, drove him to A & E, thinking it would be faster than waiting for an ambulance. From then on, he is in the capable hands of the NHS and was treated with care, love, dignity and above all kindness. It must have been a very frightening experience for all concerned. After 47 days in an induced coma in ICU, Michael is slowly returned to health, minus a few bits like a working eye and ear!
The book which is a tribute to the NHS as well as a love story with his wife is moving, sad and funny and tells the story of his care and return to his beloved family as well as all the children who appreciate his school visits and love his books.
The early part of the book is the letters written by the staff who cared for Michael in hospital, gleaned from a book by his bed in which they wrote of their thoughts and love on each shift. they write about his condition and what they are doing to and for him, as well as how much they loved his books. Many were physiotherapists, helping out in ICU. In the hospital the staff printed and laminated his poem “These are the Hands” which he wrote as a tribute to the NHS, for its 60th anniversary. It was on the wall beside his bed. This too is in the book.
The rest of the book is written in poetry, blank verse for the most part, and concerns his rehabilitation and recovery. He is back on the radio in Word of Mouth, a year later.
The love of his wife and for his wife shines through the whole book. The subtitle A Story of Life, Death and the NHS is so apt, although maybe the word ‘Love’ should also be there. It is a love song to the NHS, as well as a good read which should be read by everyone, Covid deniers, and politicians alike.
I thoroughly recommend it.

This is brilliant. It really shows the horror of covid and the isolation. Should be compulsory for all sceptics.

Oh my goodness. Never has a book touched my heart quite as much as this one. I've ordered a signed copy immediately because its a special one. I've worked with Michael a few times at the cheltenham literature festival and he was one of my all time favourite heroes as a child. I think, as with the rest of the book loving nation I feared the worst for him and was so happy when he was finally allowed out of hospital. However, I had NO idea quite what it was like for him, both during his hospital stay and after, during his recovery. This book made my heart hurt and it also made my heart sing for his clear love for his family, the NHS, children and writing. 100% Recommend. I'd give this 10/5 stars if I could.

With his trademark humour, Michael Rosen tells the dramatic story of his hospitalization and near death from Covid-19. The diary entries from the medical professionals that looked after him help to piece together this story of his long illness.

I found his poems very moving, and his musings on mortality and the ways the experience changed him, extremely compelling. It is an honest account that brings to life the ways in which those seriously ill have suffered.

Thanks for the free copy via Netgalley.