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Cost Of Hope: A Memoir (2013)

by Amanda Bennett(Favorite Author)

3.9 of 5 Votes: 3

ISBN

129909709X (ISBN13: 9781299097094)

languge

English

genre

Memoir & Autobiography

publisher

Random House

review 1: This is more than another sad story about someone who fights cancer. It's written by someone who is a great writer, who keeps you turning the pages with her amazing writing style. It's about a true love story, about real people who fight, but still love each other. For my friends who are adoptive parents, the author also throws in some brief details about their experience adopting their daughter from China.I loved the beginning of the book, where the author describes her experiences living in China. I learned so much from reading about what China was like in the 80s. I loved the author's description of her relationship with her husband, sharing honestly about the challenges in their relationship, yet how their love for each other carried them through.And the author di... mored an outstanding job describing the final days and weeks of her husband's life. I was especially touched as she described how she didn't realize how close he was to death, and would have liked more time to say goodbye.I also appreciate her reflections on how challenging it is for patients and their families who see lots of specialists, yet nobody looks at the big picture. It reminds me of what things are like dealing with my mom's doctors.
review 2: This book should be more widely read by all Americans but the question is who is the audience and who would you dear reader pass it onto?Bennett is a talented writer and her story is balanced and well-paced. I have no idea where I heard about the book but it was well done, combining a look at her experience with her husband's cancer care, and the medical industry in America. With a journalist's process she goes back through the records and bills from her husband's care to review the process she was too emotional to look at rationally at the time. She questions the money involved and the way that we, as a death denying culture, approach illnesses---particularly our end of life care. It's a complex topic that she has brought into the personal realm.It would be crass to pass this along to people in the beginning of a visit to the foreign country of cancer. Doctor's know about all this. Politicians not likely to take time to read it. It's almost as if the book is preaching to the choir. It is a brilliant look at the interior decisions that one couple with two children made and the fear of loss that drove both the make decisions that lengthened a life but perhaps not the quality of that life. less

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