November Rose: A Speech on Death (Independent Publisher Book Award 2008) (Hardcover)

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Editorial Reviews

Review

I truly cannot adequately express in words what a profoundly moving, engaging, intellectually rich and inspiring experience reading this book has been. As a philosopher I am indebted to the author for broadening my horizons, for illuminating parts of my own existence in this precious world, and for challenging me to rethink certain concepts and to deepen my understanding of them. The resonances with Plato, with philosophies of love, life and death have inspired me to return to them with a new eye. This speech as so many of my favorite texts do, invites a dialogue, and demands a response. It is brilliant and luminous! --Dr. Licia Carlson, Harvard University

The November Rose is a beautiful book. I can only agree that having seen death that close (watching, holding and kissing the dead person you love so much) changes you for ever and probably for the best. --Sarah Miller

Product Description

In this penetrating, thought-provoking, and deeply personal philosophical meditation on the death of the beloved other and the turmoil into which it throws those who were close to him, philosopher Kathrin Stengel opens hitherto unseen vistas onto one of the most painful human experiences. The author's ruthless clarity of observation, coupled with razor-sharp philosophical intuition and unflinching honesty of judgment, allows her to pinpoint the personal and social complexities of life after death in a way that cannot but make us doubt some of our common practices in dealing with death and survival.

Product Details

• Hardcover: 84 pages
• Publisher: Upper West Side Philosophers, Inc.; 1st edition (November 25, 2007)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0979582911
• ISBN-13: 978-0979582912
• Product Dimensions: 7.6 x 4.9 x 0.3 inches
• Shipping Weight: 8 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (1 customer review)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #1,433,505 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

5.0 out of 5 stars November Rose, November 22, 2008

By	Diane J. Karnett (New York, NY) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

Until now, I have not dared to share a book on loving, death and grieving with any friend or family member who had suffered the profound loss of a loved one. Now comes November Rose, written with elegance, astute honesty and love. Instead of platitudes (like "time heals all wounds") Dr. Stengel shares her very personal and philosophical observations on death of the beloved, the "survivor's" place in the social network and loving oneself back into life. Dr. Stengel notes that time cannot heal on its own and "only if time joins forces with courage can it heal--the courage to let go of the last thing we have left of the other, his death, and instead to choose love, and, hence life." Movement away form the beloved "paradoxically, leads right back to him--albeit in an altered state, in which love itself becomes the driving force, while life shared in love in longer in the foreground." The love abides in eternity.
Dr. Stengel sharply deals with the phenomenon of Death turning the survivor's life into public property and the survivor's loss of identity following the beloved's death. I have read this book four times and always find new observations that stretch my way of looking at the complexities of life and death. Old losses reappear in a richer, clearer and more integrated way. I am, without any fear, giving November Rose to a friend whose wife recently died. He is dealing with the pain of loss, while searching for a way back into Life. I'll be proud to share this "Speech on Death"....... and, ultimately, life.