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Things I've Learned from Dying: A Book About Life
Author:
Dow, David R.
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Class:
155.937
Age: Adult
Language: English
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LC: BF575.D3
Print Run: 50000
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ISBN-13: 9781455575244
LCCN: 2013032569
Imprint: Twelve
Publisher: Grand Central Publishing
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Pub Date: 01/07/2014
Availability: Available
List: $25.00
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Hardcover
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Physical Description:
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273 pages ; 22 cm
H 8.5",
W 6",
D 1",
0.89 lbs.
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LC Series:
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Brodart Sources:
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Brodart's Insight Catalog: Adult
Brodart's TOP Adult Titles
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Bibliographies:
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Awards:
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Library Journal Best Books
Library Journal Starred Reviews
Publishers Weekly Starred Reviews
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Starred Reviews:
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Library Journal
Publishers Weekly
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TIPS Subjects:
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Psychology/Self-Help
Death and Dying
Law
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BISAC Subjects: |
SOCIAL SCIENCE / Death & Dying
BIOGRAPHY & AUTOBIOGRAPHY / Memoirs
MEDICAL / Nursing / Oncology & Cancer
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LC Subjects:
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BIOGRAPHY & AUTOBIOGRAPHY / Personal Memoirs
Death
Dow, David R
Grief
Loss (Psychology)
MEDICAL / Nursing / Oncology & Cancer
SOCIAL SCIENCE / Death & Dying
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SEARS Subjects: |
Death
Dow, David R
Grief
Loss (Psychology)
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Reading Programs: |
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| Annotations |
| Brodart's TOP Adult Titles | 10/01/2013 |
| A life-changing diagnosis and a case of acute liver failure open David Dow's eyes to the personal side of death as he reconsiders his career spent defending death row inmates. When David's father-in-law faces terminal cancer and acute liver failure strikes David's dog, David explores the effects of sickness and loss. 288pp., 50K, Auth res: Houston, TX, Tour |
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| Starred Reviews: |
| Library Journal | 12/19/2013 |
| Dow's previous memoir The Autobiography of an Execution makes the case against capital punishment by taking readers inside the desperate, chaotic moments before a state-sponsored execution. In this new memoir, the director and founder of the Texas Innocence Network brings us back to Texas's death row at a time in his life when he is simultaneously losing his father-in-law and beloved family dog. But as the subtitle suggests, this narrative is also for the living: how we support one another in the face of the inevitable as parents, lovers, and friends. VERDICT Dow's lyrically written prose shimmers as he traces life's final moments for his death-row client, father-in-law, and dog Winona. Its exploration of the elusive line between life and death will leave readers speechless. 288p. LJ Reviews Online Review. LIBRARY JOURNAL, c2013. |
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| Publishers Weekly | 11/04/2013 |
| Lawyer Dow (Autobiography of an Execution) eloquently draws us into this gracefully told memoir about his angry and painful struggles to sort out the lessons that death teaches us about living. During the time that Dow is preparing appeals for Waterman, a death row inmate, his father-in-law is diagnosed with cancer, and his family's beloved dog is found to have an inoperable and ultimately fatal liver tumor. An engaging storyteller, Dow weaves elegantly each person's story into a colorful and emotionally wrenching narrative that covers his fiercely honest struggle to make sense of life and death. Early on, his father-in-law reflects on the career of his cancer: "The problem is the emotional change the physical pain has caused, and it is too late to do anything about that change." After an especially trying day working on the Waterman case, Dow expresses his frustrations with the system: "People who think bogus legal proceedings happen only in places like Iran or China apparently have not been to Texas... Anybody who tells you the criminal justice system is an even playing field has no idea what she's talking about." Dow's moving tale leaves us with a tough questions: "Which is better: to be able to circle the date on a calendar five years from today when your life will end? Or to get flattened by a truck crossing the street and never see it coming?" Agent, Simon Lipskar, Writers House. (Jan.). 274p. PUBLISHERS WEEKLY, c2013. |
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| Journal Reviews |
| Kirkus Reviews | 11/15/2013 |
| A memoir examining the complicated nature of death. Although death-row defense lawyer Dow (Houston Law Center; The Autobiography of an Execution, 2011) is no stranger to the throes of death, when the Grim Reaper knocked on his own family's door, the reality of the situation hit much harder. Thoughtful and full of a pensive sadness, the author intertwines the difficulties of his work, of trying to save a model inmate destined for execution, with reflections, memories and conversations with his dying father-in-law and the painful process of watching his beloved dog, Winona, die. "Time does not heal all wounds," writes the author. "Some pain becomes part of who you are." His pain, born of a profound love for his family and pet, cascaded over into Dow's work, where the need to save a life, regardless of the crime committed, has forced him to try any measure to stay the execution. Meanwhile, his father-in-law struggled with the physical and emotional realities of suffering from a terminal disease and the desire to live life in his own way while trying to juggle the needs of a devoted wife and daughter. The final piece to the triplet of death fell into place when the elderly Winona suffered acute liver failure. The pace of the writing is slow and steady, inexorably moving toward predetermined and unavoidable conclusions. No amount of heroics on the parts of Dow to save the inmate, the doctors to save his father-in-law and friend, or the vet to help the dog can change the outcomes. Hope, love, anger, guilt and despair are some of the emotional waves the author faces head-on and presents to readers in a moving testimony to the will to live. "Our lives end before others notice," writes Dow, "and the time that spans the distance is the inverse of the grief your loved ones will suffer when you leave them behind." Sad and inspiring reflections of what it means to live, love and die. 288pg. KIRKUS MEDIA LLC, c2013. |
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| Library Journal Prepub Alert | 07/29/2013 |
| Founder and director of the Texas Innocence Network, Dow has represented more than 100 death row inmates in their state and federal appeals, an experience he articulated with quiet, bracing passion in The Autobiography of an Execution. That book was a Barnes and Noble Discovery Award winner and a National Book Critics Circle Award finalist, which bodes well for this more personal book on death. When his father-in-law and his beloved dog Winona are both diagnosed with terminal illnesses, Dow is compelled to reconcile with loss and the extraordinary impact of death on a family. With a 50,000-copy first printing and an author tour to Dallas, Austin, Houston, New York, and Washington, DC. 288p. LJ Prepub Alert Online Review. LIBRARY JOURNAL, c2013. |
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9781455575244,dl.it[0].title
| Review Citations |
| New York Times Book Review | 01/26/2014 |
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