Franny would have enjoyed this . All of this .
Life Death and Iguanas ebook
I was given a complementary copy of the final draft by the author, whom I know. What I didn't know was his great storytelling skills and mastery of the language.
Marc is a polyfaceting individual who taps on his various skills and interests, music, literature, nursing, to tell a compelling story of a momentous event in any person's life. The death of a mother. But not just any death. The conscious decision, collectivelly planned by the three siblings, to help an aging mother have the passing of her choosing.
His narrative is almost filmical. The reader is in the front row of the events of his childhood in rural Wisconsing. The formative years with Franny, his mother,and his father John and the lasting influence they, in their own ways, had on Marc and his brothers. Franny however, had a very special influence on Marc and the bond they had is a key aspect of this narrative.
He offers us a privileged seat on his journey trough sadness, acceptance and despair and the closing episodes of job loss and depression.
I think, and hope, that we are going to be hearing more about Marc Newhouse in the future.
Category Article pressure washer
I was given a complementary copy of the final draft by the author, whom I know. What I didn't know was his great storytelling skills and mastery of the language.
Marc is a polyfaceting individual who taps on his various skills and interests, music, literature, nursing, to tell a compelling story of a momentous event in any person's life. The death of a mother. But not just any death. The conscious decision, collectivelly planned by the three siblings, to help an aging mother have the passing of her choosing.
His narrative is almost filmical. The reader is in the front row of the events of his childhood in rural Wisconsing. The formative years with Franny, his mother,and his father John and the lasting influence they, in their own ways, had on Marc and his brothers. Franny however, had a very special influence on Marc and the bond they had is a key aspect of this narrative.
He offers us a privileged seat on his journey trough sadness, acceptance and despair and the closing episodes of job loss and depression.
I think, and hope, that we are going to be hearing more about Marc Newhouse in the future.
This book is one of the best I've read in a very long time. It's a very personal story about the courage of a strong woman who, despite her love of life, by choosing the time and means of her death, leaves a mother's lesson on courage, love and acceptance; the experience of one man in his journey of discovery to find the strength to live despite overwhelming pain and loss. I found this book thoughtful and personally meaningful. I'm looking forward to reading more books by this author.
Fran Newhouse chose the way she lived and the way she died and Marc, her son, made tributes to both. Dynamic, powerful, honest, and revealing describes this book. It is indeed full of love one has for his mother and allows her to die with dignity the way she wanted to. I applaud Marc and this book. Everyone should read this and encourage all states to assist us to die when the time comes.
This piece is not only a touching tale of loss but a lens into gripping family tensions and love.
Mr. Newhouse has demonstrated a talent for stirring introspection hopefully he will honor his readers by revealing more of his narrative prowess.
She also would have had a good time editing it . Not that it needs it - but she couldn't have resisted. It would , I suspect, have brought her moments of pain, pride and joy. I haven't seen Marc since Jack died 19 years ago. If I'd been smart , I'd have continued on with Franny. He's right. She always thought and pondered. Never pretentious and never predictable . And she had a wonderful , welcoming smile. In high school she was the mother I wanted .
As a nurse and former Hospice nurse , this was a difficult decision made by all of them. Ironically , Eric's initial qualms gave Franny , her family and friends the time to say goodbye that they all really ended up needing. The time to spend with each other in a little more natural progression I think . Over the long haul it will serve them well in spite of the tremendous pain and sorrow. I don't think Marc's going to ever totally forgive Eric. You'd have to know Marc to know how intensely angry or depressed he can be. He might get past it but not over it . Franny 's given them that chance though .. Marc writes like he talks - I just miss all the arm and hand gestures as he does so. How in the devil he remembered so much detail to recall for all of us I don't know. He's a musician though and memory is essential . I laughed a lot , cried a good bit too. . I'm tremendously glad of the portrait and history he gave us of Franny and Jack . The photos worked in so well . And I'm flat out awed that he could write of all of it . ALL of it. I was impressed by the sheer amount of round the clock care that was able to be put together to accomplish this . It's not always that easy or available despite want and it is totally necessary . This book is incredible on so many levels - anything I can say won't do it justice. Of course he's a writer. Always was . This is a beautifully written tribute. . This is a love story . Of course he was there for her. No doubt on that . A remarkable woman who stood by a gutsy decision. I hope she's strolling through her woods in the Spring.
I loved this book. Three brothers, the oldest a prize-winning journalist in Montana, the middle one a successful lawyer in Manhattan, the youngest a gifted cellist, RN and English teacher in Old San Juan, and an indomitable beloved mother who lives in a cabin in the Wisconsin woods and decides it's time to die. This true story is written by the youngest brother; it is a powerful, moving and brutally honest story of living through the ruptures families must heal to understand, accept and love each other. Highly recommend!
I just finished reading "Life, Death and Iguanas" and started to cry. Through its pages, I met and loved Franny, the author's mother. I was crying for Franny and for Marc, but also for my mother. Anyone who has lost a mother can relate to the story here so well told. Reading the book is like having a face-to-face conversation with the author. It is sometimes like being there during Franny's last few days. For me it was like being in the ICU waiting for my mother to transition to her new reality. A spiritual friend told me, right by my mother's deathbed, that my dead grandmother and aunt where there waiting to lead the way for my mother's soul. I miss her with all my being. I miss her just like Marc misses Franny.
Marc's my cousin and, as he says, is one of several Newhouses who eventually succumb to the family curse of becoming writers. Of all the writers in the family, his mother used to tell me, Marc is the REAL writer. But I had no proof -- until Iguanas came out.
I'd just gotten a Master's in creative writing when I read a draft of the book, so my head was full of all the 'craft' lessons I'd spent the previous 6 years absorbing. I was stunned that Marc seemed to have not only mastered the best of those very lessons himself, but was confident enough in his own voice and his story to bend the rules of craft when it fit his need. He moves back and forth in time, seamlessly shifting between a page-turner current story and a quieter look backward. He brings in new characters as a novelist would, each one additive to the whole and helping to drive his story forward. This final published version is even sharper and stronger than that amazing draft.
And what a story. The vivid description of his mother's brave choice to end her life on her own terms, and the tenderest descriptions of her final days and moments. But even braver is Marc's truth-telling about his own life. Lord, I admire that. Bravery and love seem, at least to me, to be the twin threads of this moving, moving story.