Losing Jonathan [Paperback]

Robert P. Waxler (Author), Linda Waxler (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: September 2003

When Bob and Linda Waxler received a phone call warning them their beloved and accomplished son Jonathan was taking heroin, they began a journey that took them through the detox hospitas and halfway houses of America. But the second call a year later, from the medical examiner in San Francisco, informing them that Jonathan had died, plunged them into the deep darkness-a long, lonely journey into the center of themselves. Their task was to survive in a world that would never again be the same, and they did survive and even triumph, incorporating Jonathan into their lives not as a lost son, but as a living spirit who is with them i a new way.

Editorial Reviews

Review

..this isn't a book about death, but about living filled with wisdom that has been tempered by loss and pain. -- Donald M. Murray, author of The Lively Shadow-Living with the death of a child

A moving story, well told, of love, loss and pain. -- Rabbi Harold S.Kushner, author When Bad Things Happen to Good People

Losing Joathan is a beautifully written story, filled with fear and hope... -- Terry Gorski, author and founder of CENAPS

About the Author

Robert P. Waxler graduated with a B.A. from Brown University, M.A. from Boston College, and Ph.D. from SUNY at Stony Brook. He is currently an English professor at University of Massachusetts, Dartmouth.Dr. Waxler is a co-editor of an anthology published by Notre Dame Press based on the internationally recognized alternative sentencing program Changing Lives Through Literature which he co-founded in 1991.

Linda Lassoff Waxler graducated with a B.A. from Tufts University and a M.A. from Suny at Stony Brook. She is a math teacher at Dartmouth High School and previously taught at Fisher College and Bristol Community College. She is a co-founder of the SWIMS Program (Successful Women in Math and Science) and a founding member of the New Bedford Community Health Center. Ms. Waxler also serves as an active board member of Compassionate Friends and Positive Action Against Chemical Addiction.

Product Details

• Paperback: 207 pages
• Publisher: Spinner Publications (September 2003)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0932027768
• ISBN-13: 978-0932027764
• Product Dimensions: 8.8 x 6 x 0.7 inches
• Shipping Weight: 10.4 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.7 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (7 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #290,272 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

11 of 11 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Death of a Young Adult Child, July 18, 2004

By 

Thomas Dargan (Pelham Manor, NY United States) - See all my reviews

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: Losing Jonathan (Paperback)

This is a fine book, well-written and heartfelt. The death of a young adult child, according to Darwin (who experienced this) is the hardest of all life's hard things. Worried parents of troubled children will have to ante up some gumption to read it. Non-Jews will envy the Waxlers' faith in their tradition, which seems to come from the inside, unmediated by a pastor's instructions or by the stiff martini resorted to by lonesome predestinarians. English majors and professors will be reminded of the deeply moral underpinnings of their vocations. People without children, once visiting this terrible story, will understand their friends with children better than they may understand themselves. Parents will see their children as never before, vulnerable in a hard world, today in an unnecessarily hardnosed American version of it. For parents who have lost a child, this book and the strength of this family may offer consolation-but the Waxlers advise never to give advice to people in this terrible position.

8 of 8 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Loss of a child, January 28, 2004

By 

Joanne&Jim Gardner (Palm Bay, Florida) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Losing Jonathan (Paperback)

Losing Jonathan is a beautiful, heartbreaking, story of loss, love, and hope. Linda and Bob Waxler have powerfully told the story of their journey to hell and back while giving those of us who have lost a child hope for tomorrow. We highly recommend this book to any parent struggling with grief, regardless of how you lost your child or how old that child was. It also contains wonderful advice for those who are struggling with how to support anyone who has lost a child.

4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A testament of parental love and a gift to us all, January 9, 2006

By 

SLH (Rowley, MA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Losing Jonathan (Paperback)

Soul-wrenching and life-changing. Robert and Linda Waxler, with their incredible faith and love for their son, find a way to articulate what it means to be a parent. Through their loss and subsequent struggle to survive it, Robert Waxler beautifully and powerfully gives us a much greater awareness and consciousness of our own love and committment to our children. This book also drills home the absolutely terrifying reality that everyone's children are vulnerable to the dangers of drugs. I knew Jonathan personally and went to school with him throughout high school. He was an intelligent, witty and extremely nice guy. He was one of those people that everyone liked and assumed would be a success in life. The face of a potential addict is every child - not just those who had a hard childhood or who were unloved. Jonathan was loved and the Waxler's ability to give us the gift of his and their story is possible because of the power of that love. Read it and become a better person and parent.