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Monday, April 18, 2011

The Long Goodbye - Giveaway and Review


I'd just lain down in bed when the phone rang. It was my mother.

"Meg?" her voice rose. "You're home? There's something I want to tell you," she said with a deliberateness that alarmed me. "And I wanted you to hear it from me." She hesitated. "I haven't been feeling well and I went to the doctor for some tests, and she found a tumor."

The next week she called as I was walking back from lunch to my office on Fifty-seventh Street. As the afternoon crowd bustled industriously around me, she said bluntly, "The doctor got the results. The tumor is cancerous. I'm going to need to have surgery and then maybe radiation and chemotherapy, and we need to do it soon. But they think they can treat it," she continued.

This is my story of how Meghan O'Rourke dealt with her mother's diagnosis of colon cancer and the grief resulting from her losing her battle to fight it. This is her memoir that deals with how she went through the process of healing and shares those thoughts and memories with us in her book, The Long Goodbye.

So much of dealing with a disease is waiting. Waiting for appointments, for tests, for "procedures." And waiting, more broadly, for it - for the thing itself, for the other shoe to drop. Except in the waiting you keep forgetting that "it" will really happen - it's more like a threat, an anxiety: Will my love love me forever? (pg 63).

It's Meghan's honesty in sharing her most intimate thoughts that makes you feel like we are her closest friend as she pours these out to you in her own words. You feel priviledged, like you have reached a secret place where friends share this secrets and thoughts with one another to keep yourself from going crazy keeping them all bottled up inside. Meghan possesses such courage in sharing how difficult it must be to watch her mother go through this and knowing there is nothing you can do to make it better. This is what makes this book so great for us to read.

For those that have gone through a grieving process in watching cancer take someone you love from you, you can relate to the various emotions that come across the pages in this book and create a kinship that we can all identify with.

I received this book, The Long Goodbye by Meghan O'Rourke, compliments of TLC Book Tours for my honest review and rate this one a 5 out of 5 stars. While the subject matter is difficult, it makes it easy for anyone to understand the grief process and how much it changes us from the inside out. It creates a new sense of normal of us in which there is no going back to be able to change it.

For more information about this book, the author and where to purchase a copy, please click on the link below:


Thanks to the generous folks at TLC Book Tours, they are offering a giveaway copy to one lucky reader. Here are your guidelines:

1. You must be a follower of my blog, Reviews From The Heart.

2. Please like my Reviews From The Heart Facebook page by clicking here.

3. You must be a resident of the US or have a US shipping address. Please No P.O. Boxes.

4. I must have a way to reach you so be sure to include your email address with your comment below. You can use the words (at) or (dot) instead of the symbols.

5. Please leave a comment and let me know why you'd love to win a copy of The Long Goodbye. The giveaway will end on April 23rd. I will notify the winner via email at that time.

21 comments:

  1. Liked the FB page..

    GFC follower

    vidishamun@gmail.com

    ReplyDelete
  2. We as a family are currently dealing with cancer and chemo of our nephew, who is 9 1/2 and autistic. It's been about 5 weeks since we first found out about it. Dealing with his issues and complications are difficult. Success isn't guaranteed, but his type of cancer (Wilhms) has a 90% cure rate. Prayer is what gets me through. Would appreciate reading Meghan's book. Please enter me.

    I'm a follower via GFC.

    "Liked" your Reviews From The Heart Facebook page on FB.

    desertrose5173 at gmail dot com

    ReplyDelete
  3. I have read only good things about this book. I would love to read it then pass it on to my mother, whose parents both passed away in 2007 after illnesses. I know she would appreciate it. Thank you for the chance.

    I am a GFC follower (tiffany drew)

    I "liked" your reviews on Facebook.

    jaidahsmommy(at)comcast(dot)net

    ReplyDelete
  4. I have a pre-cancer condition that could sometimes become cancer so I am interested in how the mother dealt with it and also her daughter.

    I follow your blog with Google Friends Connect.

    I also follow with an e-mail subscription.

    And I follow you on Facebook.

    CarolNWong(at)aol(dot)com

    ReplyDelete
  5. This books sounds like a beautiful story to me. I haven't experience the loss of a loved one to cancer. I would love to read about all of her feelings as she helped her mother. I am a follower of your blog and I liked you on Facebook. dpucci9972atgmaildotcom

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  6. Hi! Followed your blog and face book page. I love memiors. They are probably my all time favorite read. Would love a follow back if possible. http://mylife-in-stories.blogspot.com
    email: dkmtheriot@yahoo.com

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  7. I am a follower! This looks like a great book!

    ntaylor228 At Yahoo dot com

    www.amusingreviews.blogspot.com

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  8. I am a follower and email subscriber. I liked your reviews on facebook. Please enter me in contest. I would love to read this book. Sounds very good. Tore923@aol.com

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  9. My daughter in law was diagnosed with cervical cancer last November & had a complete hysterectomy followed by radiation. I think this book would really help me to understand her feelings better. Thanks for the chance.
    Liked your FB page
    Email subscriber...ruthiekb72ATyahooDOTcom

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  10. I would love to win this book thanks lisapeters at yahoo dot com

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  11. How many people have faced this dreaded disease? It sounds like a wonderful book that everyone could enjoy!

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  12. thanks for the chance to read this beautiful novel ;)

    karenk
    kmkuka at yahoo dot com

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  13. Hi I just wanted to check in on this book that I won back in April. I haven't received it yet and I haven't heard back from you so I was hoping you could give me an update on its progress :) Thanks!

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  14. Hi Kat. I received your follow-up email last week about this giveaway and forwarded you the original winners email you sent me. I haven't heard back from you so I don't know if you are getting my emails or not. I just want to make sure you got it. Thanks for checking into this for me!

    ReplyDelete
  15. I am getting your emails but for some reason you aren't getting mine so I don't know how else to contact you. This is what I received from you originally from email address stevenkat27@verizon.net:

    Tiffany,

    Congratulations for being the lucky winner of the book, The Long Goodbye! Please respond to this email with your mailing address so I can get this book shipped out to you. Please No P.O. Boxes and allow 2-4 weeks since the book will be coming directly from the publisher. I look forward to hearing from you soon, and again congratulations!

    Love and Hugs ~ Kat
    http://reviewsfromtheheart.blogspot.com


    I have emailed you back a few times and haven't gotten answers, maybe my emails are going to spam?

    ReplyDelete
  16. Hi Kat. I just received your email and I wanted to tell you here too that I forwarded you the original email I received as well as my response with my mailing info. Please let me know if you don't received it for some reason. Thanks again.

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  17. This comment has been removed by the author.

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  18. Hi Kat,

    I just wanted to check in on this book again and see if you had heard back from the publisher since it's been about five or six weeks since I last spoke with you. Thank you again for looking into this book for me :)

    jaidahsmommy(at)comcast(dot)net

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  19. I will definitely let you know when it arrives. Thank you again so much!

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  20. Hi Kat,

    Just wanted to let you know that the book arrived and to say thank you again not only for the awesome giveaway but for checking into it again for me and making sure it arrived :)

    ReplyDelete

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