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meagan_young's review against another edition
5.0
I absolutely LOVED this book. I’m not sure why the average rating isn’t higher, seriously. If I highlighted books, I would’ve highlighted something on every other page. There were so many beautiful tidbits that were inspiring, convicting, and lovely. Mary Anne was a beautiful soul, and we’re all blessed that her son chose to share her incredible life and her love of reading with us. I will be recommending this to everyone!
shailydc's review against another edition
3.0
This is a great book to read if you love to read and love books. My to-read list grew longer and longer with every chapter (I kept stopping to look books up on Goodreads).
My only negative: Schwalbe's excessive use of commas.
My only negative: Schwalbe's excessive use of commas.
skynet666's review against another edition
4.0
Wonderful book....amazing that this family truly exists. The only thing that bothered me was that it told too much about the books they read. It was only a paragraph or two, but I kept thinking "what if I want to read this book someday"? Of course I know I never will, but I still didn't want to know the endings of any book. Regardless, i think this was a very interesting story.
heathervickery's review against another edition
challenging
emotional
funny
hopeful
informative
inspiring
reflective
sad
fast-paced
5.0
What a life. What a legacy. What a gift.
Reading this book will make your life better and fill your heart. Truly. Trust me.
Reading this book will make your life better and fill your heart. Truly. Trust me.
erickibler4's review against another edition
4.0
A beautiful book about the connection through books a mother and son were able to make it the years leading up to her death from pancreatic cancer. I lost my mother to cancer six years ago, and I really envy how Will and his mother Mary Ann were able to find a common language to discuss the questions of life, death, and the possibility of the hereafter.
I wish my mother and I had had that common language. And I wish my stepfather, through his own bitterness and lashing out, hadn't poisoned my process of mourning by making some very cruel statements. I'm still processing the loss six years later, as a result.
Reading this book may help bring peace to many people. I recognize how good it is, but it's brought up a lot of angst for me. But at the same time, it's helped me to rid myself of a lot of misplaced guilt that I had been placing on my own head. I do tend to do this; to beat myself up unjustly. I need to stop doing that.
But I remember the time in the hospital room when my mother and I acknowledged death's approach and our love for each other. No one else was a party to that conversation but her and me. And no one can judge that or take that away from me.
I wish my mother and I had had that common language. And I wish my stepfather, through his own bitterness and lashing out, hadn't poisoned my process of mourning by making some very cruel statements. I'm still processing the loss six years later, as a result.
Reading this book may help bring peace to many people. I recognize how good it is, but it's brought up a lot of angst for me. But at the same time, it's helped me to rid myself of a lot of misplaced guilt that I had been placing on my own head. I do tend to do this; to beat myself up unjustly. I need to stop doing that.
But I remember the time in the hospital room when my mother and I acknowledged death's approach and our love for each other. No one else was a party to that conversation but her and me. And no one can judge that or take that away from me.
katlow's review against another edition
3.0
I wanted to love this book. How could I not love a book about books? And I love oncology nursing. But I didn't love it. It veered towards preachiness at the end and wasn't the memoir that I was expecting.
leasummer's review against another edition
5.0
I loved this book, even though sometimes I couldn't quite relate because of their financially privileged life, I couldn't stop reading and loving the story. It's the memoir about a son and his terminally ill mother and the books they read to pass the time during her treatment. It really shows a son (child) saying goodbye to their mother, which I think a lot of people would find helpful or at least comforting.
I wish there was more in depth discussion about the books. They are two very bookish people, I'm sure their discussions were more complex than what was presented in the book. The books were definitely the theme that got them from the first treatment through the end of her life. It is also a beautiful look at an extraordinary woman's life.
I found myself underlining and making notes in the margin - and using a dictionary a few times to look up words. Anyone who loves books should read this!
I wish there was more in depth discussion about the books. They are two very bookish people, I'm sure their discussions were more complex than what was presented in the book. The books were definitely the theme that got them from the first treatment through the end of her life. It is also a beautiful look at an extraordinary woman's life.
I found myself underlining and making notes in the margin - and using a dictionary a few times to look up words. Anyone who loves books should read this!
stephwd's review against another edition
2.0
I thought it was worth writing my review of ‘The End of Your Life Book Club’ following on from Albom’s brilliant ‘The Time Keeper’ despite having read the former back in August. In many regards there is a similarity between these two authors: both deal with loss, death and faith. However, the fundamental difference seems to be that where Albom succeeds in providing an uplifting message about living and subtly delivers a moral message about faith (and religion if that is your particular proclivity), Schwalbe fails.
On the surface, this book should have been everything that I love about literature. It tells the true story of Schwalbe and his mother, who on finding she has pancreatic cancer that will ultimately kill her, begins a series of chemotherapy treatments. Schwalbe accompanies her on many of these visits and in order to pass some of the time, they begin a book club with only two members. During the course of her illness, they read a series of books that they then discuss in detail and their different perspectives and views of these books are often interesting and enlightening. At the same time, Schwalbe also reveals many of the quite miraculous achievements of his mother during the course of her life, which have included visiting Afghanistan and raising enormous amounts of money for charitable organisations, the last of which is to create a library for children in Afghanistan so that education can continue despite the devastation there.
I did enjoy the opening half of the novel, but as it progressed, I found myself increasingly bored, which is a terrible thing to say about a novel that charts the death of such an amazing woman. So what was my problem? And this is a question I really did have to ask myself as my reaction seemed quite unreasonable.
Well, firstly, the real interest for me lay in Schwalbe’s mother and I increasingly felt that the story that I really wanted to hear was about her, which Schwalbe told only in brief, fleeting snippets. Given all she had achieved, I wanted more and it felt wrong to dwell so long on the dying embers of her life and ignore its brightest flames. In fact, at times this was all about Schwalbe rather than the character who should have been the heart of the novel.
Secondly, I think I resented the way in which her faith was so constantly discussed and thrust down the reader’s throat. Despite Schwalbe’s proclamation that he did not share his mother’s religious beliefs, it felt as if a great deal of time was given over to them and many of the novels that he chooses to discuss in the novel have a distinctly religious bent. Now Albom too has a religious grounding to his works. However, the difference is that he deals with faith and morality rather than forcing upon us a particular viewpoint that seemed forced and uncomfortable particularly when you don’t share those views.
Thirdly, the pattern of the novel became repetitive and the pace far too slow. Schwalbe’s needed a lesson from the brevity of Albom where the precision of his word choice and concise nature of his writing have a far greater impact than endless factual regurgitation.
Lastly, I was not confident in Schwalbe’s narrative voice. At times, there was a resentment and detachment about his style. For all his seeming idolisation of his mother, there seemed an underlying frustration that her charity work had ultimately taken her repeatedly away from her family and left him to flounder alone in a job he hates and ultimately gives up. Yet Schwalbe never acknowledges this, yet it does feel embedded within his writing and this creates a sense of discomfort.
Having said this, I do not think you can fail to be moved by the events in the story or the ultimate sense of sorrow with which it ends. Moreover, the idea behind the novel is original and interesting (which I think accounts for much of its success). However, it felt more like a money making opportunity to become a novelist (I know harsh criticism) rather than a genuine outpouring of grief in the way ‘Tuesdays with Morrie’ genuinely was. Yes, interesting, but would I recommend it, would it even make it on to my book club list? Sorry…no.
On the surface, this book should have been everything that I love about literature. It tells the true story of Schwalbe and his mother, who on finding she has pancreatic cancer that will ultimately kill her, begins a series of chemotherapy treatments. Schwalbe accompanies her on many of these visits and in order to pass some of the time, they begin a book club with only two members. During the course of her illness, they read a series of books that they then discuss in detail and their different perspectives and views of these books are often interesting and enlightening. At the same time, Schwalbe also reveals many of the quite miraculous achievements of his mother during the course of her life, which have included visiting Afghanistan and raising enormous amounts of money for charitable organisations, the last of which is to create a library for children in Afghanistan so that education can continue despite the devastation there.
I did enjoy the opening half of the novel, but as it progressed, I found myself increasingly bored, which is a terrible thing to say about a novel that charts the death of such an amazing woman. So what was my problem? And this is a question I really did have to ask myself as my reaction seemed quite unreasonable.
Well, firstly, the real interest for me lay in Schwalbe’s mother and I increasingly felt that the story that I really wanted to hear was about her, which Schwalbe told only in brief, fleeting snippets. Given all she had achieved, I wanted more and it felt wrong to dwell so long on the dying embers of her life and ignore its brightest flames. In fact, at times this was all about Schwalbe rather than the character who should have been the heart of the novel.
Secondly, I think I resented the way in which her faith was so constantly discussed and thrust down the reader’s throat. Despite Schwalbe’s proclamation that he did not share his mother’s religious beliefs, it felt as if a great deal of time was given over to them and many of the novels that he chooses to discuss in the novel have a distinctly religious bent. Now Albom too has a religious grounding to his works. However, the difference is that he deals with faith and morality rather than forcing upon us a particular viewpoint that seemed forced and uncomfortable particularly when you don’t share those views.
Thirdly, the pattern of the novel became repetitive and the pace far too slow. Schwalbe’s needed a lesson from the brevity of Albom where the precision of his word choice and concise nature of his writing have a far greater impact than endless factual regurgitation.
Lastly, I was not confident in Schwalbe’s narrative voice. At times, there was a resentment and detachment about his style. For all his seeming idolisation of his mother, there seemed an underlying frustration that her charity work had ultimately taken her repeatedly away from her family and left him to flounder alone in a job he hates and ultimately gives up. Yet Schwalbe never acknowledges this, yet it does feel embedded within his writing and this creates a sense of discomfort.
Having said this, I do not think you can fail to be moved by the events in the story or the ultimate sense of sorrow with which it ends. Moreover, the idea behind the novel is original and interesting (which I think accounts for much of its success). However, it felt more like a money making opportunity to become a novelist (I know harsh criticism) rather than a genuine outpouring of grief in the way ‘Tuesdays with Morrie’ genuinely was. Yes, interesting, but would I recommend it, would it even make it on to my book club list? Sorry…no.
cjrayl's review against another edition
emotional
hopeful
informative
reflective
sad
medium-paced
5.0
The End of Your Life Book Club by Will Schwalbe
Age - 18+
Let's be honest. The topic of this memoir probably has a very limited audience but gosh, what an impact! Will recounts the experience of discussing shared books with his mother while waiting for her chemo treatments. Through these books, and subsequent discussions, both Will and his mother are given the timeless gift of learning about each other. They transcend the Mother / Son preconcieved notions. Yet Will also presents his mother to us, the reader. We learn about her passions, her beliefs, and the way she is a lynch pin to the family. Sometimes it is hard for us to see our mothers as individuals, as people with fears, passions, and dreams. Schwalbe does an excellent job of showing us how getting to know a loved one can enrich our life going forward.