2024 the best of us a memoir review

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'This haunting story, penned by a master wordsmith, is a reminder to savor every loved one and every day.' Booklist

Indie Next Pick "For Reading Groups"

From New York Times bestselling author Joyce Maynard, a memoir about discovering strength in the midst of great loss--"heart wrenching, inspiring, full of joy and tears and life." (Anne Lamott)

In 2011, when she was in her late fifties, beloved author and journalist Joyce Maynard met the first true partner she had ever known. Jim wore a rakish hat over a good head of hair; he asked real questions and gave real answers; he loved to see Joyce shine, both in and out of the spotlight; and he didn't mind the mess she made in the kitchen. He was not the husband Joyce imagined, but he quickly became the partner she had always dreamed of.

Before they met, both had believed they were done with marriage, and even after they married, Joyce resolved that no one could alter her course of determined independence. Then, just after their one-year wedding anniversary, her new husband was diagnosed with pancreatic cancer. During the nineteen months that followed, as they battled his illness together, she discovered for the first time what it really meant to be a couple--to be a true partner and to have one.

Thisis their story. Charting the course through their whirlwind romance, a marriage cut short by tragedy, and Joyce's return to singleness on new terms, The Best of Us is a heart-wrenching, ultimately life-affirming reflection on coming to understand true love through the experience of great loss.

ASIN ‏ : ‎ B06WVQCK99
Publisher ‏ : ‎ Bloomsbury USA; 1st edition (September 5, 2017)
Publication date ‏ : ‎ September 5, 2017
Language ‏ : ‎ English
File size ‏ : ‎ 2287 KB
Text-to-Speech ‏ : ‎ Enabled
Screen Reader ‏ : ‎ Supported
Enhanced typesetting ‏ : ‎ Enabled
X-Ray ‏ : ‎ Enabled
Word Wise ‏ : ‎ Enabled
Print length ‏ : ‎ 454 pages
Reviewer: Donna Cronk
Rating: 5.0 out of 5 stars
Title: From hilltop to heartbreak: Boomers will identify, cherish today more
Review: While Joyce Maynard has always detailed the life and times of her generation, as well as shared personal details from her life, as though each reader is really her close friend visiting over coffee, "The Story of Us" is one we all wish she didn’t have to write.She lost her love too soon. She tells us everything; things we don’t want to hear, but know she must say, about cancer and what you do when the person you love most is dying. Or before you know he is dying and you are frantically trying to find what will save him, and save you. But her fans have been around a day or two. We’ve seen cancer, and death, and pain, and disappointments along with our own hilltop moments. We understand.At the end of almost every chapter, there is a simple, but profoundly poignant point offered by Joyce, a takeaway even, for us all. For example, while addressing a frustration over an inconvenience due to her husband losing his car keys, she writes, “In the old days, I would have made some sharp remark. How could he? I didn’t do those things anymore. ‘If only,’ I often said, ‘you could learn the lessons of cancer without having cancer.’”She writes with candor, her signature, of course, in ways that sometimes make you wince and want to look away from plenty of ugly situations, not only of the cancer journey that we know won’t end well, but of heart-rending situations before the two found each other. We’re reminded of our own, personal, look-away moments. Who doesn’t have them? We probably are prone to hide them away rather than put them out there.The joy that sparkles in this book is that Joyce and Jim found each other, and got to experience travel and life and love in a condensed form that I would call blessings.Joyce and I are two different women in more obvious ways than we are alike. Yet perhaps at the heart of our curious connection is this shared core belief: That it isn’t real until it’s written. And that we don’t get to choose our life stories. They choose us. Then we tell them.She spent a year after Jim’s death writing this book, and now she’s touring with it, something she revels in, and finds energy from. Writing a book is necessarily a solo experience with quiet and isolation. Joyce recharges by meeting her readers, hearing how they identify with her words, and how she identifies with them.She will survive this. Jim had said he only wanted to be her good husband. He regretted, perhaps more than anything, the burden he would say he became to her, the pain his pain caused her. The way she can honor him now, I believe, is to press on and have a wonderful life, find new love and joy and, (I would add, most of all) faith.I will stay tuned to hear hers. There will be new ones to find and I know she will write about them all. I hope that the next chapter will be one that makes her heart sing. Life is full of so much. Love, laughter, people we love and lose, relationships, sadness, disappointment, and moments that surprise and soar. She’s not done, this woman who chronicles life for the Baby Boomer generation.I still see the two of them, Joyce and Jim, on that New Hampshire hilltop four years ago. They had it all.From them, let us remember that our days are likewise numbered. And to cherish each and every one we get.

Reviewer: nanerski
Rating: 5.0 out of 5 stars
Title: Rewarding
Review: This book was sad and magnificent at the same time. It was a deep and penetrating experience of love and loss, and the richness that comes with a shared loving partnership. I highly recommend this book.

Reviewer: Susan M. Baumann
Rating: 4.0 out of 5 stars
Title: Love, Cancer, Hope and Tragedy
Review: Maynard's memoir, a heart-twisting, beautifully- rendered story, chronicles her relatively late-in-life big love with her second husband, Jim. Maynard is independent and frustratingly impulsive, but also a surprising romantic, who discovers unexpected, whirlwind happiness with her new, devoted, longed-for partner. This level of sheer genuine joy virtually guarantees that at some point, the universe will swing the pendulum back around, and both are then shell-shocked by the sudden sledgehammer of Jim's pancreatic cancer diagnosIs. The book recounts Jim's grueling battle against this virulent disease, and his struggle to maintain their hopes and dreams of a shared life together. I read the book in two days, unable to put it down for long, even while knowing the eventual outcome. The medical journey is excruciating, and I found myself feeling the roller coaster of each glimmer of hope and crushing despair along with them. Yet, the book is also a testament to the power of real love, and what it means to truly commit to another person. This is a good read, both sad and triumphant. Death prevails, but love burnishes each moment and every memory. If one is lucky enough to find love, it is not counted in the number of days, but by the richness of the experience.

Reviewer: cybernana
Rating: 5.0 out of 5 stars
Title: Live For Each Memory
Review: I lost my love after 25 yrs. 6 yrs. ago. I wasn't sure I could read this book but I'm so thankful I did! Different kind of cancer but many things are alike. This was written so the horrific memories were there but it was the smallest of good memories that stood out! Their love was so profound, deep, and unforgettable! It reminds us all to savor each and every memory because you will need them later. It teaches us to not be afraid of making each moment count and to throw away everything that's NOT important. It was written with such love that it enabled one to not focus on the horrible thing CANCER but to refocus on the MOMENT!! It's a book all should read to prepare you for most likely this horrible disease that kills the ones we love! One more thing I'd like to bring out is the courage if this man. As a cancer survivor I could relate to the pain and suffering he endured for the live of his life. I hope I did as well, I tried to only think of my family not my pain! Please read an excellent novel that will hold you captive, crying, but a good reminder of what we all need to strive for, memories of those special moments in our lives!!

Reviewer: Jane Murray
Rating: 5.0 out of 5 stars
Title:
Review: A beautiful love story. Joyce Maynard has always impressed me with her lucid writing style. This is so readable and lovely and sad.

Reviewer: am
Rating: 5.0 out of 5 stars
Title:
Review: This was an emotional, honest and compelling read. It had me in tears, the story is just so lovely and Jim is so endearing, as is Joyce. I didn't realise until the end that it is a true story.

Reviewer: Marilyn McIntosh
Rating: 4.0 out of 5 stars
Title:
Review: It was a clear and honest accounting of a life lived with many bumps and accomplishments on her own - to one shared deeply and intimately with a great love.