The book is a mother-daughter tale that should please fans of, say, The Joy Luck Club. It's not flashy, but it has a deep feel for the way children often discover, just before it's too late, who their parents really are. "Our parents are never people to us," Ellen writes, "they're always character traits.... There is only room in the lifeboat of your life for one, and you always choose yourself, and turn your parents into whatever it takes to keep you afloat." The mercy-killing subplot isn't gripping, but the palpable sense of deepening family intimacy certainly is

Sending to a Bookcrossing winner!!

Happy Reading..

Received today from a "I've never won a rabck " participant. Looks interesting :) Thank you!

I had a very tough time reading this because of the subject matter, a dear friend just started her chemo this week and One True Thing touched a nerve. Once the book started moving I had trouble putting it down. Very sensitive subject, brought to mind in a way Alice Sebold's Almost Moon regarding mother - daughter relationships. Thanks for sharing ColoBlu6!

sending as a rabck

This wonderful looking RABCK by Anna Quindlen was here waiting for me when I came back from a short holiday. Thank you so much.

I really like the label (sticker) you have put on the front - sharp, clear and to the point - and thank you too for the sweet little heart-shaped paper clip page holder.

Started reading this last night and it's really really good. Thought-provoking.

I'll write more when I'm done but have decided to offer this as a RABCK "Q" book for A-Z challenge on the Finnish Forum.

I just finished part one of this novel. It's amazing.

I wanted to share a couple of quotes and thoughts here:

I had never heard of the dying persons bill of rights though I know I should have. And it broke me that Ellen broke down on reading the last one. I would have too. But the words of the nurse resonate too "Falling apart is curling up into a fetal position and staying in bed for a week. What you were doing was having the emotional response an individual has to the loss of someone they love. We cry to give voice to our pain ... You are not going to get better for a long, long time ... but I refuse to beleive that keeping your grief bottled up makes you feel better than crying." (so very, very true!)

I also was provoked (in a good way) by Mrs G's insights on marriage (p 169 - sorry this page is now dogeared!) If you take him out, it's like cutting his face out of all the pictures, there's a big hold and it's ugly. It would ruin everything. It's more than love, it's more important than love. Think of Anna [Karenina]

Part two will be about the trial ...

Edited to add-atually it wasn't - at least that wasn't the main focus. It was more about who Ellen was. And there's an interesting epilogue too.

An excellent read.

CONTROLLED RELEASE NOTES:

It's time to let this book go. Glad that Niksu gets it as a RABCK for the Q book for her 2008 A-Z challenge. Enjoy!

I love reading where books end up -and what other readers thought of the book (good and bad!) - so do please take time to make a journal entry if you possibly can. Appreciate that!

The book came yesterday. Thanks stf so much for offering this at the forum and helping me with alphabet-challenge. Here's Q!

And thanks for helping me with the number. So nice of you:)

A painful read. All the time it reminded me off me and my mothers difficult relationship. She's well but might not be one day. And yes, I did cried. I had 100 pages left but I had to stop reading to blow my nose and dry my tears and continue with a little bit cheerful book. When I started reading again in the next day, it made me cry again and I thought why I need to read this book when it makes me feel so miserable.

I'm glad I didn't read the previous journal entries or the back of the book before reading the book myself, because I usually think they reveal too much.

Thanks stf for sharing this! I loved it!

CONTROLLED RELEASE NOTES:

Mailed to Aspen72. Enjoy!

Thank you Niksu for sending this book to me!! This should, surprisingly, serve me as Q in Alphabet challenge :-)

Back cover said "hypnotically interesting" and "articulate". I can agree with those descriptions. The first half was quite painful and tough reading - I pictured my both grand-mothers who became quite frail in the end. That made me think, why am I reading these "difficult" books, don't I have enough with my own anguishes.
The latter part was quite analytical and there were lots of philosophical thoughts and conclusions, which caught me, and made me read until the end.
Currently I have kind of turning point what comes to my work and career, and Ellen's choises gave me some ideas...
Thanks for sharing!

CONTROLLED RELEASE NOTES:

Posted to franaloe as part of Surprise bookring.
Happy reading and happy bookcrossing!!

Cool, the surprise bookring! Almost forgot about that one. Thanks Aspen72!

CONTROLLED RELEASE NOTES:

Sent off to the international sweepstake winner. Congratulations!

What a lovely surprise! When another package dropped through my door wrapped in designer paper, (newspaper), I knew who it was from, although there was no sender's address on the back, since I also received one from you two days earlier! I opened it up and saw this nice book, but there was no note inside. You kept me guessing to the end! I looked here on BC and saw that it said you sent it to the winner of the International RABCK Sweepstake! Then I knew I had won this RABCK and I was/am elated! You see yours was one of two books which arrived today, and I opened the other one first from ApoloniaX and she put a note saying I was the winner. I thought I must be the decoy, (still a lucky thing to be), but then I read your online journal and WOW it hit me....I am the winner! Thank you so much for picking this book for me. It looks like a good one and I have read everyone else's journals on this book and so I know it is also a sad one. Box of tissues required! I hope I get around to reading it soon.
I think you have chosen well. Thank you.

This was a good read. Please write a journal entry.