Customer Reviews

A Way to Die

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The Zorzas, a trans-atlantic family, wrote this account at a time when hospice was a new idea in Britain and still had not blossomed in the U.S. The account is both a memoir to their daughter, Jane, who died of melanoma at 25, and a tribute to the (un-named) in-patient hospice facility in England that made her final months bearable. Presented in unassuming chronological style and with the two principle authors, Jane's parents, spoken of in the third person, the book does not at first hint of its emotional impact, which in the end is profound. The power is in the finely detailed recollection of family interactions, interactions that stumble toward the resolution of a dignified death.

The moment had come. They all went out of the room, leaving Richard alone with his sister. The speech he had prepared had dwindled to a few simple words. It was Jane who took the initiative. Perhaps she wanted to get it over with. "You're going now, aren't you, Rich?" she said evenly. "Yes, Jane, it's time." "You've been a good brother to me, Rich." She went on. It was Richard who found himself on the verge of tears. "And you've been a good sister to me, " he said quickly, desperately, as he kissed her lips and almost ran out of the room.

The book makes clear that Jane was no angel in life, she was barely so as the approach of death calmed her emotional storms. Meanwhile her two parents and single sibling, Richard, obviously fall on the wooden end of the emotional expression scale. Yet as authors, the surviving family is unsparing in its honesty and the reader gets a close-up of patient, family, friends and caregivers in their protracted crisis. Will appeal to: anyone facing a comparable situation.

I am the son refered to in the review.

Please note that this book is available for individual noncommerical use on the web at

http://www.zorza.net/resources/waytodie

I have only filled in 4 stars since this is a required field, and the prior review gave this number. It is not for me to give a rating.