Review: The End of Your Life Book Club
Posted by Unknown on Monday, October 28, 2013. Filed under: memoir, non-fiction, published in 2012, review, reviewed in 2013
The End of Your Life Book Club by Will Schwalbe
Published by: Knopf
Our source: Our local library
What it’s about (from Goodreads):
“What are you reading?”
That’s the question Will Schwalbe asks his mother, Mary Anne, as they sit in the waiting room of the Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center. In 2007, Mary Anne returned from a humanitarian trip to Pakistan and Afghanistan suffering from what her doctors believed was a rare type of hepatitis. Months later she was diagnosed with a form of advanced pancreatic cancer, which is almost always fatal, often in six months or less.
This is the inspiring true story of a son and his mother, who start a “book club” that brings them together as her life comes to a close. Over the next two years, Will and Mary Anne carry on conversations that are both wide-ranging and deeply personal, prompted by an eclectic array of books and a shared passion for reading. Their list jumps from classic to popular, from poetry to mysteries, from fantastic to spiritual. The issues they discuss include questions of faith and courage as well as everyday topics such as expressing gratitude and learning to listen. Throughout, they are constantly reminded of the power of books to comfort us, astonish us, teach us, and tell us what we need to do with our lives and in the world. Reading isn't the opposite of doing; it’s the opposite of dying.
That’s the question Will Schwalbe asks his mother, Mary Anne, as they sit in the waiting room of the Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center. In 2007, Mary Anne returned from a humanitarian trip to Pakistan and Afghanistan suffering from what her doctors believed was a rare type of hepatitis. Months later she was diagnosed with a form of advanced pancreatic cancer, which is almost always fatal, often in six months or less.
This is the inspiring true story of a son and his mother, who start a “book club” that brings them together as her life comes to a close. Over the next two years, Will and Mary Anne carry on conversations that are both wide-ranging and deeply personal, prompted by an eclectic array of books and a shared passion for reading. Their list jumps from classic to popular, from poetry to mysteries, from fantastic to spiritual. The issues they discuss include questions of faith and courage as well as everyday topics such as expressing gratitude and learning to listen. Throughout, they are constantly reminded of the power of books to comfort us, astonish us, teach us, and tell us what we need to do with our lives and in the world. Reading isn't the opposite of doing; it’s the opposite of dying.
Our thoughts:
Book about a Mom dying of cancer? And they spend their time reading together? I was 100% convinced this book was going to completely wreck me. It didn't. I couldn't connect with Schwabe's characters at all.
His writing seemed almost clinically impersonal at times where it should have been heart-wrenching. The book was touted as a love letter to his Mom, which it was, but he included a lot about himself that didn't add to the story and really just made me dislike him. (The one point that really got me was that he quit his job to start a website, but had no idea what kind of website to actually start and complained about being stressed about it. Quitting to start a passion project? Fine. Quitting when you have no real idea what to do and then whining about it? Please.)
I think another sticking point was that I hadn't read most of the books they discussed so I felt even less connected. Ultimately, it just seemed to fall short of the emotional tribute I was expecting.
We would recommend this to:
Those coping with a loss, fans of literature
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