The Lively Shadow: Living with the Death of a ChildBallantine Books, 2003 - 193 pages "Remembering may be a celebration or it may be a dagger in the heart, but it is better, far better, than forgetting."--Donald M. Murray It is the hardest thing anyone can face--the death of a child. A tragedy that has affected millions also touched Donald M. Murray, Pulitzer Prize-winning columnist for The Boston Globe, twenty-five years ago. Now, for the first time, he fully expresses what he lost--and learned--in a book even more moving than his inspiring volume on aging, My Twice-Lived Life. Lee Murray was Donald and Minnie Mae's middle child, one of three girls. An avid oboe player accepted by a prestigious conservatory, the family "caretaker" with compassion for everyone, a young woman with a devoted boyfriend and the whole world ahead of her--Lee succumbed at age twenty to Reye's Syndrome, commonly considered a childhood illness. In The Lively Shadow, her father remembers the hell of her passing and the healing it took him years to finally experience. From hearing the initial news that Lee was in the hospital and the four harrowing days spent by her bedside, to trying to teach, write, and love others while grieving, to learning to live at last with only Lee's memory, Donald Murray embarks upon a journey that is at once universal and informed by his own life's details. Whether he's feeling irrational guilt at not being able to protect his child or pulling off the highway to release a primal howl, the pain Murray feels brings him finally to a place of peace, an acceptance whereby he realizes "the most terrible experience in my life has also been a gift," requiring "a continuous celebration of the commonplace." Unflinching in its honesty, The Lively Shadow is a beloved author's most impressive achievement--a book bound to be of continuing comfort to anyone who has lost a loved one, a touchstone on a topic few have written about, let alone addressed so openly. |
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Page 48
... sick , terribly sick . They don't know what it is , but she's been taken to Exeter Hospital by ambulance . Minnie Mae and I pack quickly , but it feels slow , oh so slow . Betty and Don help us and promise to bring the rest of our stuff ...
... sick , terribly sick . They don't know what it is , but she's been taken to Exeter Hospital by ambulance . Minnie Mae and I pack quickly , but it feels slow , oh so slow . Betty and Don help us and promise to bring the rest of our stuff ...
Page 49
... sick , but in our innocence we fear it is serious but do not really believe it can be . We are being overdramatic . Everything will be just fine . At the same time the dread is real . I feel as if I'm walk- ing in a lake of molasses ...
... sick , but in our innocence we fear it is serious but do not really believe it can be . We are being overdramatic . Everything will be just fine . At the same time the dread is real . I feel as if I'm walk- ing in a lake of molasses ...
Page 53
... sick she has to get to a Boston hospital right now . Immediately . Sooner than possible . Even as I rant I know that my anger comes from my guilt . Why did we sleep at home last night ? Why did we stop for breakfast ? 53 Tuesday: Shock.
... sick she has to get to a Boston hospital right now . Immediately . Sooner than possible . Even as I rant I know that my anger comes from my guilt . Why did we sleep at home last night ? Why did we stop for breakfast ? 53 Tuesday: Shock.
Table des matières
The Gift | 1 |
Innocence | 7 |
Conception | 9 |
Droits d'auteur | |
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Expressions et termes fréquents
accept alive ambulance Anne and Hannah asked baby become Boston Boston Symphony Orchestra brain celebrate cemetery Chevy Suburban child childhood close combat comfort conservatory corridor daugh daughter dead doctors Don Graves door dream driving dying emptiness escape face father fear feel felt friends gift of death girls grade guilt Hampshire happened hear high school hope knew later laughing learned Learning by Teaching Lee Murray Lee's death live look Lumpectomy Massachusetts General Hospital memory Minnie Mae morning moved neighbors never night nurses oboe parents pass Paul Paul Lambert play rage realize remember Reye's syndrome sick silence slow smile stand stiff upper lip stop story street submarine sandwich survive talk teacher teaching tell thought tion told took tree turn Vermont waiting room wake walk weeks woman writing young