Will Schwalbe

Recounts how the author and his mother read and discussed books during her chemotherapy treatments, describing how the activity involved a wide range of literary genres, furthered their appreciation for literature, and strengthened their bond.

The End of Your Life Book Club

Melissa Palmer

#53 Book Read in 2012
The End of Your Life Book Club by Will Schwalbe

This book details a very small book club, Will and his mother Mary Ann, who is dying of pancreatic cancer. The pair decide to use the time spent at the hospital during Mary Ann's chemo treatments to read and discuss books together. Their discussions bring them even closer together. This book also tells about the effect that Mary Ann had on the people who knew her. She was an important part in so many people's lives--personally and professionally. Mary Ann was a humanitarian who served selflessly for years. She instilled a care and charity into her children and grandchildren. 

This book was well written. I felt a loss at the end when the inevitable happened to Mary Ann. I was concerned about how her family would get through this. I enjoyed this book--the details about the family and the discussions about the book. 

I received this book from BookBrowse in exchange for a fair, honest review.

http://melissasbookpicks.blogspot.com

Barbara Williford

DNF: I really wanted to like this book but I can’t. This book was for a book club and I was so excited thinking it was so appropriate. There’s no way to connect with these people and I’m just struggling for this to be over. I’m going to have to put this in my DNF pile. The book is written by a son with a highly inflated sense of his mother. Although she did good works and helped many people, she is just put on a pedestal and we as the reader are going through the day to day of their privileged life with no real point of the book. Every once in a while is a brief blurb about a book. It is the most boring read and you just want it to end. I regret the time and money I spent and unfortunately I can get neither back.

Edit: I ended up finishing the book because I had spent the money on it. It did not change my mind. The author is an elitist who assumes everyone should know who he and his family are. Very privileged family. Again, the mother did have a moral compass for others which she attributed to her faith and she did travel to war torn countries to help others. She seemed to be the only one in the family to want to help others. The book is by the author’s account of his daily writings in his dairy of the days he spent with his mom. Very boring day to day which includes her cancer treatments and their book club. Every once in a while they talk about a book. Again, save your money and your time. The only pro to this book is that a couple of pages in, it put me to sleep. Good bedtime read.

Sarah Ryan

Great book about the relationship between a mother and son who start reading the same books and discussing them during her last two years as she battles with cancer. The book is a wonderful tribute to his mother who seems to have been an extraordinary woman. It is also a love letter to books themselves. I’ve even added a few of the books mentioned in this book to my ‘to read’ list. Would recommend.

Tanya Sutton

Jeni Enjaian

I struggle finding words to adequately describe this book. Schwalbe created something amazing in this love letter to his amazing mother. I have read memoirs on similar topics before, The Unwinding of the Miracle: A Memoir of Life, Death, and Everything That Comes After, and even though I enjoyed it, I loved this one so much more. Schwalbe did not shy away from telling about the physical struggles that his mother endured yet he also did not make that the central focus of the memoir. He used the motif of books that he and his mother read throughout her 18+ month journey through terminal pancreatic cancer to paint the most beautiful love story from a son to a mother. I wholeheartedly recommend this book.

Melissa Railey

Lindsy Rice

Pierke Bosschieter

Caitlin Hooker

Ionela Mucilenita

Lauren hughes 

Mandi Jayne

Jennifer Rittall

Lisa Miller

Andrea Henderson

Joshua Line

'A wonderful book about wonderful books and mothers and sons and the enduring braid between them.' - Mitch Albom, author of Tuesdays With Morrie 'a true meditation on what books can do.' - Edmund de Waal, author of The Hare with Amber Eyes Mary Anne Schwalbe is waiting for her chemotherapy treatments when Will casually asks her what she's reading. The conversation they have grows into tradition: soon they are reading the same books so they can have something to talk about in the hospital waiting room. Their choices range from classic (Howards End) to popular (The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo), from fantastic (The Hobbit) to spiritual (Jon Kabat-Zinn), with many in between. We hear their passion for reading and their love for each other in their intimate and searching discussions. A profoundly moving testament to the power of love between a child and parent, and the power of reading in our lives.

The End of Your Life Book Club

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