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A review by lanabug711
The End of Your Life Book Club by Will Schwalbe
3.0
This is a sweet memoir of a son and his mother, who is dying of pancreatic cancer. Both are big readers, and as the son accompanies his mom to her treatments, an informal book club springs up, just the two of them. They read everything from pop lit to foreign literature, much of it way more high brow than anything I would ever read. Their discussions help them both come to terms with death.
The book was just okay. It was slow and I found myself skimming quickly. I did enjoy the literary references and that the author took great pains not to spoil the endings of the books they read!
I couldn't help comparing it to When Breath Becomes Air by Paul Kalanithi. Both books are memoirs about terminal cancer. Both are written by very well-read, educated people. However, the Kalanithi book is more poignant, perhaps because it was written from the perspective of the one with cancer, rather than a family member. Kalanithi's writing style is more elegant; Schwalbe writes in a very straightforward, almost simplistic style. Both had good lessons about the meaning of life, but I enjoyed When Breath Becomes Air more.
The book was just okay. It was slow and I found myself skimming quickly. I did enjoy the literary references and that the author took great pains not to spoil the endings of the books they read!
I couldn't help comparing it to When Breath Becomes Air by Paul Kalanithi. Both books are memoirs about terminal cancer. Both are written by very well-read, educated people. However, the Kalanithi book is more poignant, perhaps because it was written from the perspective of the one with cancer, rather than a family member. Kalanithi's writing style is more elegant; Schwalbe writes in a very straightforward, almost simplistic style. Both had good lessons about the meaning of life, but I enjoyed When Breath Becomes Air more.