A Very Easy Death (Pantheon Modern Writers Series) [Paperback]

Simone de Beauvoir (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: February 12, 1985 | Series: Pantheon Modern Writers Series

A poignant account of her mother's death from cancer.

Editorial Reviews

Language Notes

Text: English, French (translation)

From the Inside Flap

A poignant account of her mother's death from cancer.

Product Details

• Paperback: 112 pages
• Publisher: Pantheon; 1 edition (February 12, 1985)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0394728998
• ISBN-13: 978-0394728995
• Product Dimensions: 5.2 x 0.3 x 8 inches
• Shipping Weight: 4.2 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.4 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (8 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #271,996 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

17 of 17 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Death Comes Not So Easily, March 12, 2002

By 

Nanci "Book Dragon" (Tri-Cities, WA USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: A Very Easy Death (Pantheon Modern Writers Series) (Paperback)

This is a book I would put on a must read list. Death has been spirited away behind closed doors, and banished from our thoughts until it forces its way through, as it always will. This is a must read for anyone working in "Health Care" or with the elderly, also anyone counseling families and the dying. I would hope to find it on a required reading list for medical schools as well. de Beauvoir gives an honest, raw account of her thoughts and fears as her Mother dies; it is a bit reassuring to see that not all of those thoughts are pure and idyllic. She gives any ethics committee a firm reference point in the consideration of assisted death vs. assisted living. Read this book, it will enhance your life.

13 of 15 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Well written but ..., July 28, 2000

By 

M. J. Smith (Seattle, WA USA) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)    (REAL NAME)   

This review is from: A Very Easy Death (Pantheon Modern Writers Series) (Paperback)

I have recently read Duras' No More and Ernaux's I Remain in Darkness (both of which I recommend) so when I saw A Very Easy Death I picked it up to read as another take on death. I was disappointed.

Beauvoir writes well - it is sheer pleasure to read some of the descriptive passages where she selects just the right details to set the physical and emotional scenes. Her self-revelation of her surprise at her emotions is often poignent.

However, two aspects of the book disturb me. First, Beauvoir writes as if she knew well what her mother was thinking and assumes that the deception of her Mother worked. Given the number of death images in the mother's dreams and given her gradual detachment from the external world, I suspect that her mother knew she was dying but did not wish to confront her daughters regarding the deception. Beauvoir writes touchingly of the long standing riff between she and her mother - their lack of mutual understanding - then asks me to trust her interpretation of her mother's frame of mind in her last days. A bit more of a stretch than I care to grant.

The second aspect of the book that disturbs me is the ease with which Beauvoir slots particular events into general intellectual categories. For example, when the doctor's exhibit a bad bedside manner, she writes "I bristled when the privileged classes spoke ...".

The book is an interesting reflection on the perceptions and self-examination of the author. It could well be comforting to others going through similar situations. Read it if it appeals, but don't put on any must read list.

10 of 11 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars An eye-opening experience of losing a mother to cancer, April 4, 1999

By 

[e-mail] (Seattle, Washington, U.S.A.) - See all my reviews

This review is from: A Very Easy Death (Pantheon Modern Writers Series) (Paperback)

DeBeauvoir writes so that each word holds as much importance as each drip of life-sustaining solution pulsing into her mother's withering limbs. A Very Easy Death leads readers through the changing labyrinth of emotions surrounding the graphically-described death of the author's mother while undergoing care in Paris. On eloquent display is DeBeauvoir's heartache, anger, and confusion regarding the painful treatment of her cancer-ridden mother by two unrelenting doctors. Readers become DeBeauvoir's confidants, as through her torment she reveals her questioning of religion and the human body,as well as society and class issues. An expressive tale that challenges and explores cultural perspectives on death and dying.