Review by HannahsReads -- Dying Well
-
HannahsReads
- Posts: 265
- Joined: 01 Sep 2020, 08:19
- Currently Reading: An Imperfect Crime
- Bookshelf Size: 66
- Reviewer Page: onlinebookclub.org/reviews/by-hannahsreads.html
- Latest Review: Commercial Property Made Easy by Chris Lang
Review by HannahsReads -- Dying Well
[Following is a volunteer review of "Dying Well" by Susan Ducharme Hoben.]
Dying Well: Our Journey of Love and Loss, by Susan Ducharme Hoben, is a memoir that chronicles the end of a loving life. When Susan’s husband, Bruce, receives a fatal diagnosis, their family decides to celebrate Bruce’s final journey in a loving and peaceful way. Susan and Bruce choose how to face the culmination of their life together, and together they face the challenges of saying goodbye to family and friends, and finally the pain of hospital and peace of hospice care.
This story should be heartbreaking, and while it is always tragic to experience the death of a loved one—even from a distance, in a memoir—the great gift of this book is that the tragedy isn’t tragic; it is serene, thoughtful, and slow. The author takes care to impart the joy of life even during the final stages of death.
While it isn’t beautiful or elegant like many other aspects of the book, I also appreciated how the author carries the reader through the confusing morass of doctors and medical terminology, so terrifying to a patient already stunned by an unexpected prognosis, and then slows down to explain, step-by-step, the necessary procedures and treatments. So many of us are cancer survivors, or have lost beloved friends or family to the disease; I was hesitant to delve into these medical details at first, but I quickly came to appreciate the time and work the author put into these more prosaic sections of the book. In general people fear what they don’t know, and by journeying with the author through the day-by-day of the medical side of cancer, I was able to learn a lot, and ultimately understand the choices Bruce and Susan made later on.
This is a beautifully written book that handles difficult subject matter in a graceful and loving way. It is impossible to read the end of this memoir without crying, but that is the only reservation I would offer. Though the author herself explains that she and her family are not religious, I think readers from many faith backgrounds could relate to elements of this final journey, and find peace along with the author and her family.
Everyone handles grief and loss in a different way, so I wouldn’t categorically claim that this is the book to hand to anyone facing the loss of a loved one. That said, I do believe it would resonate with many readers. I would also recommend this to readers who took comfort from The End of Your Life Book Club, by Will Schwalbe. Dying Well: Our Journey of Love and Loss unquestionably deserves the awards it has won, and I would give it a rating of four out of four stars.
******
Dying Well
View: on Bookshelves | on Amazon | on iTunes
Dying Well: Our Journey of Love and Loss, by Susan Ducharme Hoben, is a memoir that chronicles the end of a loving life. When Susan’s husband, Bruce, receives a fatal diagnosis, their family decides to celebrate Bruce’s final journey in a loving and peaceful way. Susan and Bruce choose how to face the culmination of their life together, and together they face the challenges of saying goodbye to family and friends, and finally the pain of hospital and peace of hospice care.
This story should be heartbreaking, and while it is always tragic to experience the death of a loved one—even from a distance, in a memoir—the great gift of this book is that the tragedy isn’t tragic; it is serene, thoughtful, and slow. The author takes care to impart the joy of life even during the final stages of death.
While it isn’t beautiful or elegant like many other aspects of the book, I also appreciated how the author carries the reader through the confusing morass of doctors and medical terminology, so terrifying to a patient already stunned by an unexpected prognosis, and then slows down to explain, step-by-step, the necessary procedures and treatments. So many of us are cancer survivors, or have lost beloved friends or family to the disease; I was hesitant to delve into these medical details at first, but I quickly came to appreciate the time and work the author put into these more prosaic sections of the book. In general people fear what they don’t know, and by journeying with the author through the day-by-day of the medical side of cancer, I was able to learn a lot, and ultimately understand the choices Bruce and Susan made later on.
This is a beautifully written book that handles difficult subject matter in a graceful and loving way. It is impossible to read the end of this memoir without crying, but that is the only reservation I would offer. Though the author herself explains that she and her family are not religious, I think readers from many faith backgrounds could relate to elements of this final journey, and find peace along with the author and her family.
Everyone handles grief and loss in a different way, so I wouldn’t categorically claim that this is the book to hand to anyone facing the loss of a loved one. That said, I do believe it would resonate with many readers. I would also recommend this to readers who took comfort from The End of Your Life Book Club, by Will Schwalbe. Dying Well: Our Journey of Love and Loss unquestionably deserves the awards it has won, and I would give it a rating of four out of four stars.
******
Dying Well
View: on Bookshelves | on Amazon | on iTunes
Latest Review: Commercial Property Made Easy by Chris Lang
