A book that everyone (in our group) liked

When you first see the title of this book, you might think the contents will be sad and maudlin. Yes, someone dies. Yes, family members grow closer. Yes, there is a great deal of reading going on. But you would be wrong to dismiss this book as just another mother-son story. The way the whole story comes together…waiting in waiting rooms, passing the time between cancer treatments…reading books you might not otherwise read…is a testimony to the power of the written word to help you reflect, redirect or just plain fantasize. Along the way we learn how strong and resilient the author’s mother is. She travels around the world doing relief work, was the admissions officer at Harvard, a high school principal and board member for several entities. She didn’t consider herself a “working mother”. She was a mother, who happened to work. And she had to put to use all the skills she had learned from the various jobs and places she had worked, to face her hardest job. All of us that attended last night’s discussion agreed that this was a book written by a son who really admired and loved his mother. It wasn’t a traditional mother-son relationship, but all the various relationships in this family unit were a bit non-traditional. Another point we agreed on was the depth and breadth of their reads. Classics and contemporary fiction, mysteries, thrillers and a lot of non-fiction. Choices as diverse as the two book club members themselves. Who benefitted most from this arrangement? The mother, wanting to ease the pain and loneliness of her cancer journey, or the son who gained a better understanding and deeper appreciation of his mother? They both won.