A double tribute - The End of your Life Book Club by Will Schwalbe

As I was going over my first post and my blog design yesterday, it struck me that some things were actually missing. Things such as:

a)      How can this be considered a book criticism and recommendation blog if there are not rating system? So I added one þ.

b)      How are you supposed to know if it takes me more than one attempt to go through a book or how much time I spend reading it, if you are not aware of it?  I also added a section for that as well þ.

c)       And last but not least, as I read both in English and French, I should probably point out that should I read a book in French and decide to criticize it, I might find it easier to write my opinion in French than English. Don’t you agree?

This being said, let get now to the main subject of this post, aka the “The End of your Life Book Club”.  Now as I have said before, this is the non-fiction that finally got me started.

It is not a question of whether or not the idea of writing a book blog had already made its way into my head.  For as long as I can remember books have always been a part of my life.  I remember my mom buying me Walt Disney stories and my dad reading them to me at bedtime.  I even remember the first book I ever bought with my savings (A Little Princess, by Frances Hodgson Burnett).

No, the question was more “How to start”:

Ø  What book or series of book or even author comes first?

Ø  Do I go for my favorite story or character?

Ø  Do I want to start with a bang by giving my opinion about the new bestseller everyone is talking about or with a prized book?

And finally, it struck me: I would go with what I love and since I love books and literature and the written world, why not go with the work of someone who shared his own love for the printed page?  So here it is, my very first critic,

Published on: October 2 2012

By:Knopf Canada

Number of page: 352

Reading attempt: 1

Reading time: 4-5 days

Rating: «««« ½

Advice : Buy it and lend it

To put you in context, this book is, as the title of this post is “A double tribute”: not only does the author, who has worked in the publishing business and journalism, render a tribute to the written world; he also celebrates life and the love he has for his mother.

It is a memoir of the relationship between a son and his mother and their shared passion for books.  The story spans over 2 years and opens with the return of the author’s mother, Mary Anne Schwalbe, from a humanitarian mission in Pakistan and Afghanistan where a foundation she’s involved with helps establish libraries in those countries.

She returns with a sickness that is first believed to be a rare form of hepatitis.  As it turns out, it is much worst then first suspected.  Months later, the verdict falls: CANCER.  But not just any kind: PANCREATIC CANCER.  Now for those of you who are not familiar with this type of cancer, here are a few pointers:

•        It is the fourth common cause of cancer-related death in the USA, the eighth worldwide.
•     It has a really poor prognosis: 25% to 1 year, 6% to 5 years. When the disease is locally advanced or metastatic (which represents 80% of the cases), the survival is about 10 to 6 months respectively.
•       The cause for this poor prognosis is partly because the cancer usually causes no symptoms early on, leading to locally advanced or metastatic disease at time of diagnosis.

For Mary Anne Schwalbe, the original prognosis was 6 months and yet she managed with the help of her family and doctors, to almost quadruple her survival time.  So as pages go by, we follow the story of Mary as her life comes to a close: chemo, surgery, doctor’s appointments, her involvement in the humanitarian organization she cares about, her children /grandchildren /husband and even her own birthday parties, wedding anniversaries without forgetting the “Book Club” her son and her start while she is in chemo.

On their reading list are classics such as Jane Austen and Will Shakespeare, mysteries from Stieg Larson or Alexander McCall Smith, science fiction like The Hobbit and Lord of the Rings, prized books from Geraldine Brooks, poetry, biographies and also spiritual books.  Now, this is not a genre I usually flirt with, but as I was reading this book, the way the mother and son duo speak of beliefs, faith and courage sort of makes me want to give it a try more often. Just like I gave some of the books they read (see the Appendix section) a try and was neither deceived, nor disappointed.

So although the title makes us believe that this is mainly a book about books, I perceived it as more of an homage to the woman of exception that was Mary Anne Schwalbe; a woman who faced every step of her life with courage, determination and even optimism in some ways.  The books are here symbols of comfort, knowledge and guiding light, as they teach us and sometimes show us who we are and reveal sides of us we never suspected existed.

And although, the book is tinged with melancholy and sadness (because we know from the very beginning what is to become of Mary Anne), Will Schwalbe does not fall into the holistic or the new age. Neither does he go for the overly dark and depressive aspect of what living with cancer imply.  He treats the subject brilliantly by putting forward his mother’s resilient, yet pragmatic, nature, by depicting her as she truly was: an inspiration and an example for many to follow should we face adversity.

I will finish by quoting this: “Reading is not the opposite of doing; it is the opposite of dying”. So keep reading all of you bookworms and book lovers out there.  As for myself, I will make my way slowly but surely through The Casual Vacancy.  Until next time...

Ladybug