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The Mercy Papers: A Memoir of Three Weeks
The Mercy Papers A Memoir of Three Weeks
Author: Robin Romm
When Robin Romm's The Mother Garden was published, The New York Times Book Review called her "a close-up magician," saying, "hers is the oldest kind [of magic] we know: the ordinary incantation of words and stories to help us navigate the darkness and finally to hold the end at bay." In her searing memoir The Mercy Papers, R...  more »
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ISBN-13: 9781416567882
ISBN-10: 1416567887
Publication Date: 1/6/2009
Pages: 224
Rating:
  • Currently 3.5/5 Stars.
 8

3.5 stars, based on 8 ratings
Publisher: Scribner
Book Type: Hardcover
Other Versions: Paperback
Reviews: Member | Amazon | Write a Review

Top Member Book Reviews

reviewed The Mercy Papers: A Memoir of Three Weeks on + 39 more book reviews
Helpful Score: 2
Author Robin Romm takes us on a painful and poignant autobiographical journey through the last three weeks of her mothers life.

It is an intimate story of grief, loss, and anger. Day by numbing day marches towards almost incomprehensible loss the loss of another person to whom we are seemingly inextricably bound. It is a loss many of us have suffered or dread suffering.

Strangely the mother as the central character of this story seems gray and distant. Dying slowly is a grim process. Cruel. The human capacity to cling to life is often so strong as to evoke awe.

In reality, the mother is not the central character, however. It is the daughter who must stand by and watch her mother die. Like the process of dying, the tsunami of grief in this story also wants to make one avert their eyes.

This book is a painful and sometimes evocative read. There will be no comforting words her about how to manage death and dying. Just raw truth.
mmbay avatar reviewed The Mercy Papers: A Memoir of Three Weeks on + 19 more book reviews
Helpful Score: 1
This book should be required reading for anyone working in health care or with a person at the end of life. It is incredibly well written and "spot on" in describing the physical and emotional roller coaster that family members go through when someone is dying.
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