While Swayze’s candor may prove unpalatable for some, her memoir makes a worthy addition to the canon of literature that...
The wife of actor Patrick Swayze (1952–2009) shares bittersweet memories of caring for her husband during his battle with cancer.
Although the cover shows the author smiling as she pets a horse, the narrative reveals a much more complex story about the love that sustained a couple through a 34-year marriage. Swayze pulls no punches as she recounts the rocky patches that she navigated with her star husband. In 2003, his drinking became so problematic that she finally left; even after reuniting a year later, the two struggled to recapture their early romance. All that changed, however, when Swayze was diagnosed with cancer in early 2008. Always a devoted partner throughout their many endeavors, the author redirected her energy to arranging top medical care, assisting Swayze during the filming of a TV series and tackling home-nursing responsibilities. With unflagging cheer and the quality of “Sisu” (courage) so esteemed by her Finnish family, she undoubtedly made her husband’s final days as comfortable as possible, and her earnest narrative conveys the deep love that she and her husband shared. Sadly, Swayze began to deteriorate in 2009, succumbing to a barrage of infections that weakened his already compromised immune system and made it impossible to continue chemotherapy. These portions of the book are incredibly painful to read, and the final chapter and epilogue are especially commendable for their refusal to indulge in platitudes: “I wish I had something good, or enlightening, or even remotely encouraging to say about the process of losing someone. But I don’t. There is nothing fun about it, nothing good, nothing hopeful.”
While Swayze’s candor may prove unpalatable for some, her memoir makes a worthy addition to the canon of literature that honestly assesses grief without sentimentalizing it.Pub Date: Jan. 3, 2012
ISBN: 978-1-4391-9635-9
Page Count: 256
Publisher: Atria
Review Posted Online: Oct. 25, 2011
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Nov. 15, 2011
The author's youthfulness helps to assure the inevitable comparison with the Anne Frank diary although over and above the...
Elie Wiesel spent his early years in a small Transylvanian town as one of four children.
He was the only one of the family to survive what Francois Maurois, in his introduction, calls the "human holocaust" of the persecution of the Jews, which began with the restrictions, the singularization of the yellow star, the enclosure within the ghetto, and went on to the mass deportations to the ovens of Auschwitz and Buchenwald. There are unforgettable and horrifying scenes here in this spare and sombre memoir of this experience of the hanging of a child, of his first farewell with his father who leaves him an inheritance of a knife and a spoon, and of his last goodbye at Buchenwald his father's corpse is already cold let alone the long months of survival under unconscionable conditions.
Pub Date: Jan. 16, 2006
ISBN: 0374500010
Page Count: 120
Publisher: Hill & Wang
Review Posted Online: Oct. 7, 2011
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Jan. 15, 2006
Well-told and admonitory.
Young-rags-to-mature-riches memoir by broker and motivational speaker Gardner.
Born and raised in the Milwaukee ghetto, the author pulled himself up from considerable disadvantage. He was fatherless, and his adored mother wasn’t always around; once, as a child, he spied her at a family funeral accompanied by a prison guard. When beautiful, evanescent Moms was there, Chris also had to deal with Freddie “I ain’t your goddamn daddy!” Triplett, one of the meanest stepfathers in recent literature. Chris did “the dozens” with the homies, boosted a bit and in the course of youthful adventure was raped. His heroes were Miles Davis, James Brown and Muhammad Ali. Meanwhile, at the behest of Moms, he developed a fondness for reading. He joined the Navy and became a medic (preparing badass Marines for proctology), and a proficient lab technician. Moving up in San Francisco, married and then divorced, he sold medical supplies. He was recruited as a trainee at Dean Witter just around the time he became a homeless single father. All his belongings in a shopping cart, Gardner sometimes slept with his young son at the office (apparently undiscovered by the night cleaning crew). The two also frequently bedded down in a public restroom. After Gardner’s talents were finally appreciated by the firm of Bear Stearns, his American Dream became real. He got the cool duds, hot car and fine ladies so coveted from afar back in the day. He even had a meeting with Nelson Mandela. Through it all, he remained a prideful parent. His own no-daddy blues are gone now.
Well-told and admonitory.Pub Date: June 1, 2006
ISBN: 0-06-074486-3
Page Count: 320
Publisher: Amistad/HarperCollins
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: March 15, 2006
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