beatniksafari 's review for:

The End of Your Life Book Club by Will Schwalbe

4.0

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Will Schwalbe loved and admired his mother, Mary Anne. She was a tireless humanitarian crusader, champion friend-maker, working mom, and avid reader. When diagnosed with terminal cancer, she spent many hours at doctors' appointments, often in the company of Will. Mother and son formed a book club with only two members, discussing a wide range of books during those hours of waiting. In the end, the experience drew them even closer, and underscored the importance of reading. "She never wavered in her conviction that books are the most powerful tool in the human arsenal, that reading all kinds of books....is the grandest entertainment, and also is how you take part in the human conversation. Mom taught me that you can make a difference in the world and that books really do matter: they're how we know what we need to do in life, and how we tell others. Mom also showed me, over the course of two years and dozens of books and hundreds of hours in hospitals, that books can be how we get closer to each other, and stay close."

Not only did this book touch my emotions and extend my list of books I'd like to read, it also caused me to rethink my beliefs on the value of treatment for terminal disease. I greatly respect Mary Anne's choice to seek treatment, not because it would cure her but because it might extend her life, giving her more time with the many people she loved.