And a Time to Die: The Pain and Love of a Journey Home with AIDS [Paperback]

Frances Bontrager Greaser (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: August 1995 | ISBN-10: 0836190289 | ISBN-13: 978-0836190281

This is a story of family's journey with their forty-two year old son David, who was HIV positive long before they knew it. In 1988 he was critically ill and diagnosed as having AIDS. He died three years later.

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

"All journeys are personal ones. Some are painful. The journey of walking with a loved one who has AIDS is one of plateaus, peaks and valleys. The road is sometimes tortuous and agonizing. But there is an emotional bonding which is sustaining throughout the pilgrimage. Through it all, a sacred light guides and shines on the path ahead." With these prefatory comments, Greaser shares her own agonizing journey as her stepson dies of AIDS. Hers is a story that could so easily have been written in a saccharine and melancholy mode. Instead, this is an honest story, one in which Greaser seems unafraid to discuss her inner struggles and pain, as well as that of her husband. (Both of them believe that homosexuality is not part of God's plan, but still God is a loving God who embraces and died for their son.) She shares with the reader their parental fears that David, who had rejected God years before, would die without realizing God's love. This record of the Greasers' agony-intimate, loving, gentle, honest and filled with hope-is a perfect companion for anyone on the same journey or undergoing the same theological struggles with convictions.
Copyright 1995 Reed Business Information, Inc.

Review

Frances Greaser has exposed her soul in this moving account of confronting first the shock of learning her son has AIDS and is a homosexual, then the grief of life fading into death. Greaser speaks of very intimate and tender moments, hurts and pleasures, in this intimate love story about her stepson David. Persons who have lost a child to AIDS will identify with this story and want others to read it. Those who have not faced such pain need to become aware -- and ready. A Time To Die tells of anguish. Yet the images which finally triumph are those of hope and faith, life and resurrection. With the author's preface and an appendix offering advice and guidance for caregivers and visitors of persons with AIDS, this is necessary reading for anyone who has been affected by AIDS. -- Midwest Book Review

Product Details

• Paperback: 160 pages
• Publisher: Herald Press (PA) (August 1995)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0836190289
• ISBN-13: 978-0836190281
• Product Dimensions: 7.6 x 5.1 x 0.4 inches
• Shipping Weight: 7.8 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #4,870,641 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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