Thursday, March 28, 2013

The End of Your Life Book Club - Will Schwalbe (Audio)

When this one first came out, I saw all the great reviews but I quickly turned and looked the other way.  Obviously someone is going to die!  And I will weep, and it will be ugly, and I might even be angry that my emotions are being manipulated.  I don't take kindly to that.

But then I got the annual e-mail.  J.P. Morgan puts out a reading list each year for their employees...recommendations of non-fiction books that "offer meaningful insights into international politics, culture and art".  Isn't that cool?  One of my husband's colleagues works for J.P. Morgan and I have come to expect his e-mail asking which book he should read.  This book was on the list, and I took it as a sign.  I told him that if he read it, so would I.  Tears be damned.

Synopsis:  Will Schwalbe and his mother have always had books in common.  For Will, books were his life, as he (at the time) was a Senior VP and Editor In Chief of Hyperion Books.  His mother Mary Ann was a world traveler...always on a humanitarian mission of some kind of war-torn country.  Before that she was a working mother when most of them stayed home - a smart, determined, independent mother of three.  

But then Mary Ann was diagnosed with terminal pancreatic cancer, spending all of her time at the hospital, often with Will at her side.  To pass the hours, Mary Ann and Will established a two-person book club, and shared insightful conversations about everything from Gilead to Olive Kitteredge to The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo.  This was the connection and the common ground that brought mother and son together for the remainder of Mary Ann's days.

This is a tribute to book lovers.  It is a tribute to mothers and sons.  And it is a tribute to the human dynamo that was Mary Ann Schwalbe.

My thoughts:  Despite the inevitable, I was incredibly pleased that this book did not attempt to force my tears.  Nor does Will wallow in self-pity.  He has managed to write a memoir about death that is actually uplifting and inspiring.  This was a woman who faced a very scary situation with courage, surrounded by her books and her family, and even raising money for a library in Afghanistan up until the very end.  I finished the book thinking "when I go, I want to go down like Mary Ann".  

I was equally as impressed with their reading list.  It was seriously high octane stuff that any book club would be proud to read.  Some I'd already read, but most I hadn't and I found myself adding to The List That Lives on in Infinity.  I found it clever that Will was able to take their current reads, and relate the various plots to their lives.  It seemed that each book was chosen at the perfect time and served a specific purpose.  

My only disappointment was that the discussions of each book were fairly top level, without much depth.  Still, they read so many books in those last two years of Mary Ann's life, it probably wasn't reasonable to talk at length about each book.  (That is the problem with bookworms...we always want more.  Until we get more, then it is too much.)  Anyway the real treat here, besides just reading about people who love books as much as "we" do, is learning about a truly remarkable woman who found comfort from them in her last days.

A few words about the audio production:  The narrator for this audio was Jeff Harding, a new voice for me.  This is not what I would call a challenging listen in the scheme of things...the book is written by Will in first person, there aren't too many characters, and is basically conversational.  The audio version did not particularly knock my socks off, but I did find Jeff's voice pleasant to listen to.   

Audio book length:  9 hours and 40 minutes (352 pages)

4 out of 5 stars    

11 comments:

Julie P. said...

I actually listened to this one too and really enjoyed it. I so agree that Mary Ann demonstrated how to die with grace and dignity.

Peppermint Ph.D. said...

A couple of weeks ago I might not have been able to read this one...my mom just had a pancreatic cancer scare :( But, now that we've gotten all negative results, this sounds like one I might really enjoy. Mom's illness was the first time I've had to face the reality that my parents won't always be here, and again, for the first time, I became the adult caregiver or a parent. It really threw me for a loop emotionally. I'm not even sure I've completely recovered. I can't write about it on my blog bc my mom reads my blog :( As I type this I wonder if this book might just be the book for me right now? Thanks for sharing, Sandy!

rhapsodyinbooks said...

I would have a hard time picking this up as well! But yes, very cool about the book recommendations. I worked at a place once where we had weekly meetings and my boss would actually start them by reading a chapter to us from a book. Also very cool!

JoAnn said...

Even though reviews seem to be all over the placem I'm still very curious about this book and will read/listen soon.

bermudaonion said...

I know what you mean about this book - I've avoided it because of the death aspect. May Ann sounds like a hero to me.

Zibilee said...

This book would touch a nerve with me as well, but it sounds like it wasn't overly manipulative, and that it didn't pander for tears, which I like. I am off to see if the library has it, and if I can borrow it. It sounds uplifting. Not what I would expect of a book about pancreatic cancer.

Darlene said...

I've passed on this book as well because I thought it would make me sad. I'll probably give the audio a go one of these days.

Jenners said...

GOOD! I just downloaded this from audio and decided I could take any tears that come my way. Glad to hear it is uplifting.

Kathleen said...

I bought this one right when it came out and then set it aside because I didn't want to feel sad reading it. Sounds like it will be okay for me to read and I really love the idea of a mother/son book club, even if the idea was born out of a tragic situation.

Bonnie said...

I was on the fence about this book as well as I thought it would be depressing. Your review and another friends review have made me think again and I am going to get the book on audio from the library.

Anna said...

I thought this one would be too sad so I had no plans to read it, but you've made me think twice about it. I'll definitely keep it in mind.