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3.59 AVERAGE
3.59 AVERAGE
emotional
reflective
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
When you spot an interesting looking book on the bargain tables at New Zealand's largest bargain retail store for the glorious sum of $5-00, in other words as much of a bargain as you can possibly get, you really must wonder why it is there. After all, books that find themselves on the bargain tables anywhere are generally there for one reason only. So, it was with some trepidation that I started reading this, and without doing any googling of it prior.
The subject matter also was the cause of some trepidation - 30-something Delia Bennet, mother and wife, has been diagnosed with terminal cancer and is planning for her death, or as the back cover says, realizing that it was now 'time to get her house in order'. Hardly the happiest of topics for a leisure reader. Cancer, like taxes, does not discriminate on the basis of age, sex, colour, creed, socio-economic status etc. One, however does not die of taxes. And, we know about taxes, we confront them daily, but death is really something we know very little about and not something we face on a daily basis, or really that we like to talk about.
My feelings of trepidation, being price and subject matter, however were groundless. Despite the undoubtedly sad and difficult subject matter, this is a story of such warmth, love, remorse, tragedy and humanity told in such an achingly normal sort of fashion that it has stayed with me long after finishing.
Moving between the present and the past, Delia decides to add to her successful series of household management guides by writing the ultimate guide - The Householder's Guide to Dying. Her past guides have covered the erstwhile subjects of home maintenance, laundry, garden, and kitchen. In addition she continues to answer questions in a very acid fashion in a newspaper advice column on same household matters. Faced with a death sentence, and being a practical, organised sort of lady, Delia forces herself to deal with planning her own funeral, what advice and messages she should give her two young daughters, what type of coffin she should choose, a daily timetable for her husband on family management and so it goes on. And let's not forget the five pet hens. As she does her research, she documents it all into a manuscript for publication into her final book.
Facing up to your death of course, means that you also have to deal with the demons of the past. Delia traces her steps back some fifteen years, leaves her home in what I presume is Sydney, and goes back to Queensland where, as a pregnant teenager she gave birth to a son. And that is all I will say about this particular strand of the story because the events that took place when she was a young woman shaped the woman who is now coming to terms with this latest and last challenge in her life.
I really, really liked this book. Being a mother and wife, and dealing on a regular basis with cancer patients, I thought this would be a desperately sad and morbid book, totally sentimental and a complete slush-fest. It is sad, I had tears in my eyes at several points, but it is never morbid and throughout you are aware of how much life there is going on around Delia all the time. More importantly for Delia, and hence the reader, how life will continue when she is no longer around, and how it can be joyful. Now if all that sounds a bit too new-agey, I am probably not doing a very good job writing this, because I am the most un-new-agey person ever.
I wondered while reading this if the author had suffered herself from cancer, there is such a personal feel to the writing. I later found out that her son was diagnosed with leukaemia, and successfully treated for it while she was writing the book. Hence the empathy for her subject I guess, and perhaps some sort of catharsis too. I find it a little disturbing that a book long listed for the Orange Prize should end up on a bargain book table!
I started out really enjoying this book but unfortunately about 2 thirds through it, it all got a little bit graphic and more than a little strange. I was disappointed as it is very rare for me not to finish a book but I just couldn't make myself continue with this one.
I really liked this book. It jumps around in time a little bit, but I didn't think it was confusing. It had more suspense than I expected, since you know from the beginning that the main character is dying. Not the holding your breath kind of suspense, but the kind that makes you keep reading because you want to know what is going on. Little pieces of information in the flashbacks make you want to keep reading to find out what happened for her to get from where she was to where she is in the present.
Oh my. I've been known to cry over a book once or twice or a million times. But this book went above and beyond. Beyond the potential horrifyingly depressing topic, the novel actually played out in an overall sense much less sentimental than I had expected, but I would be reading along just fine when I would be confronted with a passage so gut-wrenchingly sad or painful that I would audibly gasp. This is a touching, thoughtful, searingly honest and open portrayal of a woman confronting her death which is just around the corner now that her cancer has spread beyond any chance of full recovery. So she decides to literally write the book on dying, and we as readers get an inside look at her own preparations, both practical and emotional. While it may be horribly uncomfortable to think about our own mortality-- and the fact that others will survive us and continue on-- this book is well worth the reading experience.
Delia is dying, leaving behind her husband, their two daughters and a wealth of history that she never really thought about until pretty much now.
I enjoyed parts of this book immensely and disliked parts immensely (the autopsy chapter seemed unnecessarily brutal...and that's said as someone who has worked in similar environments). I enjoyed the unexpected twists that appeared through out and the main characters pragmatism. Learning her back story bit by bit was enough to keep me invested but it didn't always hold me for long periods of time. I found it was a book that I read in, what for me, is quite a broken fashion.
I enjoyed parts of this book immensely and disliked parts immensely (the autopsy chapter seemed unnecessarily brutal...and that's said as someone who has worked in similar environments). I enjoyed the unexpected twists that appeared through out and the main characters pragmatism. Learning her back story bit by bit was enough to keep me invested but it didn't always hold me for long periods of time. I found it was a book that I read in, what for me, is quite a broken fashion.
This is genuinely my favourite book of all time. I bought it on a whim in supermarket one Easter when I had nothing else to do about 10 years ago and I’ve read it probably about 5 times now. I’ve never read a book which makes me feel so self aware and so lucky to be alive. It made me think about death in a way I never had before, and the beautiful descriptions have always stayed with me. I adore this book and I know I will read it again and again.
I really struggled to get through this book, and I found myself having to skim many parts in order to do so.
Although well-written, the great majority of the book is written from the narrator's viewpoint, with little dialogue between characters, and with very little depth. I finished the book feeling like I didn't know any of the many main characters, including the narrator herself. The sections where the narrator describes various domestic and household duties were probably the most detailed parts of the book - and also the most boring. The handful of "Dear Delia" letters that are scattered throughout the novel were the best part, but when combined, account for only several pages of the whole book.
As a reader who enjoys books with a plot and with characters I can relate to or empathize with, this is not a book I would recommend.
Although well-written, the great majority of the book is written from the narrator's viewpoint, with little dialogue between characters, and with very little depth. I finished the book feeling like I didn't know any of the many main characters, including the narrator herself. The sections where the narrator describes various domestic and household duties were probably the most detailed parts of the book - and also the most boring. The handful of "Dear Delia" letters that are scattered throughout the novel were the best part, but when combined, account for only several pages of the whole book.
As a reader who enjoys books with a plot and with characters I can relate to or empathize with, this is not a book I would recommend.
