The End of Your Life Book Club by Will Schwalbe (2012)
A mother and son’s relationship is enhanced by reading in the final years of the mother’s life.
Laura’s Rating: 2.5/5 Stars
Plot: A son and his mother, dying of cancer, form a book club so they have something to talk about in the hospital waiting room as she undergoes treatment.
Analysis: Speaking as someone with a close relative diagnosed with cancer, I’d proceed with caution if you want to read this book and have a similar situation. I did end up identifying with some of it, but this would’ve been horrible to read closer to the diagnosis.
The author writes about not knowing what to say to someone who is sick, how other people express their love and support, and realizing that you may or may not have as much time left with your loved one as you had expected. While a lot of this was accurate and relatable, I’m not sure that I necessarily wanted this from a book.
Additionally, The End of Your Life Book Club is marketed as how books help a mother and son bond during her cancer treatment. Yet most of the book was simply the story of the mother’s life and her many charitable causes and humanitarian work. While admirable, I didn’t really want or need a lot of backstory about this guy or his mom. I get there has to be context for the book club, but I found chunks of the book boring and unnecessary.
The chapters had brief themes or events but then abruptly changed to the next thing at the chapter break. Luckily or unluckily, most of the books they read for their club did not interest me. I did think that there were some insightful observations about reading, like how books can help us talk and what’s going on in your life at the time impacts your experience of reading a book. I admired the mother’s positive outlook throughout her diagnosis and treatment and some of the book discussions were interesting. Overall, I didn’t love the book and probably wouldn’t recommend it.
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