Death Care Books

I read this book years ago when faced with my father in law's illness. Not knowing we would be burying all four parents within four years of his death. Very valuable read for anyone going through this end of life process. I bought these copies for friends.

This book is a MUST READ for anyone caring for the terminally ill or for anyone who has already experienced taking care of someone who was terminally ill. I have purchased several of these books to give away because they are so good.

Very good book. If you are interested in souls and where they go and what happens, this is a good place to start

this book is a quick read. read it in a day prior to leaving to see my father for the last time. it was informative and gave me a greater sense of peace allowing me to concentrate on being w/ my dad @ the hospice center rather than reading their literature.

The authors are so convinced that all of these experiences prove that there is life after death. I have experience with many deaths as an ICU nurse, as well as with family. These experiences are not universal, though this was not addressed in the book. The majority of people who die are much older than those presented in these cases. The experiences may be fiction; probity is dubious, or accepted through a leap of faith on the part of the reader.
I don't know what happens after death, no one knows with certainty what happens.
Why are the healthy not visited by deceased loved ones? Are those who die in accidents excluded from these experiences?
Perhaps my terminally ill father will display signs as described in the book....If so, I'll post an update. In my experience, most do not.
Granted, my own experiences are only anecdotal, as are the stories in this book, which the reader should keep in mind.
I give this book one star because it may help people to feel better. Keep in mind that the authors are making money on this book. I say browse it in your local bookstore and then leave it on the shelf.

Brutally honest and told with heartfelt emotion, Mothering Mother is a great memoir dealing with the care of an ill, dependent parent. Witty, inspirational, relevant; we can all learn a valuable lesson about compassion from this story. Five stars

My Mother has Parkinsons and this book was so good I had to buy 4 more books for my 4 sisters to read. I felt like I wrote it myself.It was like reading what I do everyday,but coming from someone else, who went through the same siuation as my family is right now. I could not put it down and was upset when I was finished it.

Mothering Mother by Carol D. O'Dell is the author's story of caring for her 90 year old mother who suffered from Parkinson's disease with a couple of years of Alzheimers thrown into mix to keep things interesting. It's a great book and should be on every caregiver's bookshelf. Coincidentally, O'Dell lives here in Jacksonville. When she wrote about walking along the river to clear her head, I imagined she was just down the street. Feeling like we were neighbors who could wave to each other on the occasional outing, made her story even more recognizable somehow.

Not that it was difficult to believe what the author was saying. She wrote honestly, with both humor and candor, about a situation that was neither pretty nor easy. Amazingly O'Dell wrote her book while still raising teenage daughters and going to school herself. What I can't quite figure out is how she managed to care for and clean up after her mother day after day and still have the energy for normal things like shopping, attending church and making love to her husband. I think it helped that her husband was, without a doubt, her best advocate. I like to read about husbands like that.

The similarities in our situations stop with the age of our respective parents, yet O'Dell wrote about my life. In fact, she nailed the business of parenting a parent. Watching the person who raised you cross a somewhat obscure line to become a childlike version of someone you once believed hung the moon is not for sissies. O'Dell paints a word picture with poignant detail. She wrote the story I'd like to write but lack the confidence and know-how.

Mothering Mother is Carol O'Dell's "humorous and heartbreaking memoir" in journal format through the last three years of her mother's life. This is not a fun or easy book to read. These are things we don't want to think about, but eventually have to, and it helps to have a guidebook, the benefit of someone else's experience and hard-won wisdom. It is the writer's gift to face challenges head-on; to write through the darkness for survival and sanity; and to share the adventure.

O'Dell is a naturally skilled and talented writer, with the ability to document her mother's decline and her own emotions and turmoil in brutal honesty, with often shocking detail, and yet, there is humor here, even at the worst moments, and love overall.

"If you are considering home care for an infirm or elderly dependent, Mothering Mother is a not-to-be-missed memoir and helpful "how-to." [I would say "how-to-survive."]

As children many of us see our parents as almost superhuman beings. In the best circumstances, parents are big, strong, and they take care of us - hold us when we cry, bandage our scrapes, and teach us how to ride bikes. They're always there and a time when they would not be probably never occurs to us.

For many young adults their parents are still nurturers, their childhood homes are still warm places, familiar rooms they visit. Even in those years they may not think that some day roles will be reversed - they will be the care givers for once independent parents who now need to be looked after. This is uncharted territory for most, and it takes a great deal of adjustment. Yet, we can learn from others such as the forthright narrative by Carol O'Dell which tells the story of how she coped and cried when she became the parent and her adoptive mother became a child.

While many offspring who are care givers may find a suitable nursing home or even day care for their aged parents, O'Dell took Noveline, her ill 89-year-old mother, into her home, a home the author shared with her husband and three daughters. The demands of her growing family were already a full-time job - caring for her mother was one more tremendous task.

The author realized that she was going to have to find additional strength from somewhere, and she sought it in nature. We read: "Water is my element, and this holy land that sits on the edge of the sea and sky touches something deep within me. Something in me knows that if I'm going to do more than just get through this, if I'm actually going to thrive, I will need nature to nurture me."

And thrive she did although there were total embarrassments, utter frustrations, and abject degradation. O'Dell spares the reader nothing in her candid picture of what it was like to have Noveline in her home during her declining days. Mothering Mother does not paint a pretty picture but an honest one, sometimes humorous, always inspiring.

Perhaps for Carol O'Dell her book, which is dedicated to her adoptive parents says it all: "Thank you for giving your home, your heart and your lives to a little girl with a fistful of seashells, hoping to belong."

She was given a home and she gave one in return.

- Gail Cooke

This book was recommended to me over a year ago when I lost my daughter. It has taken me that long to get around to ordering it, I wish I had of much earlier. Fantastic book.

After our son was stillborn in April of 2006, we were looking for any support we could find. We went to the beach and I read this book out loud to my husband cover to cover in 1 day. Everything we were feeling was covered in this book. It was to the point and very validating. We referred to this book daily. I have purchased several of these for our support group and the hospital where our son was born. We felt like this was something parents should leave with and for that matter a book the nursing and hospital staff should have as required reading. During our darkest days this book helped us work through the many emotions that come with the death of a child. If you have suffered the same fate or know someone who has I highly recommend this book.

Our first child, our son Wyatt, was stillborn and it has been the most devastating event of our entire lives. I bought this book after a fellow angel parent recommended it and absolutely loved it. It is so "nice" to see all the thoughts and feelings you have after losing a child right there in print. It makes you realize you're not going crazy, that those thoughts and feelings are legitimate, and that you are not alone. I carried this book everywhere with me and would highlight phrases that were personal to me. It really helped me understand the loss of our son and give me strength and courage to go on with our lives while still keeping his memory alive. I'm so sorry to those of you having to look at this book, but I hope it can help you as much as it has helped me.

This book has lots of good info in it. I read it following the passing of my 24 week olddaughter back in 2005.

After the stillbirth of our first and only child, we bought or were given a raft of books relating to infant death and stillbirth. Of these, Empty Cradle is probably the best known.

I found it comprehensive and extremely focused on affirming the emotional journey of the parents. For me, it was perhaps a little bit too affirming. I found that in the end I preferred the more matter of fact tone in a book like A Silent Sorrow than the more emotional point of view in Empty Cradle. Still, it is one of the better books on the topic, and would be particularly valuable to people who are really struggling with what emotions they should be feeling at a time of loss.

I also really appreciated the comprehensive and categorized bibliography that Davis included with the book.

Eric is the heartbreaking, inspirational true story of Eric Lund, a seventeen-year-old boy who is diagnosed with Leukemia just days before he is set to leave for college. This book is a memoir written by his mother, Doris Lund, about Eric's unwavering will to survive, and about how his cancer affects not only himself, but everyone around him.

When it's a story about a terminal illness, there can be no unexpected twist. As soon as I read the description on the back cover of the book, I knew basically how it was going to start and how it was going to end. But it's what happens in between that makes Eric Lund's life so interesting. What makes him different than many whose lives have thrown seemingly indomitable obstacles at them is that Eric refuses to give up. Even when the doctors, despite their greatest and heartfelt efforts, can offer only ominous warnings, it doesn't prevent Eric from living his life to the fullest. In this way, Eric isn't just the tragedy of a boy whose life deteriorates little by little. Instead, it is the motivational story of a man whose confidence, positive outlook, and exceptional will to live bring hope and joy to everyone around him.

Of course, Doris Lund doesn't leave herself out of the picture. A lot of the book is focused on her own hopes and fears instead of Eric's, on which she can only speculate in many instances. She is also honest about her rocky relationship with Eric and the difficulties that they sometimes had communicating, which is something that most teenagers and their parents can relate to. I couldn't help noticing that there are places in the book where Doris Lund interrupts the flow of her writing, perhaps with a misplaced or awkward metaphor, but then she quickly remembers that this story is beautiful and memorable on its own without too many fancy words and phrases to distract from it.

Even if you don't usually read this kind of literature, I still recommend Eric. It may be depressing, but it's not cynical, and it leaves you with the kind of hope that Eric held on to his whole life.

I have probably read this book 8 times since it first came out. The first time I read it was shortly after my brother had been diagnosed with a form of leukemia. This book is a wonderful tribute by Doris Lund to her son, and I highly recommend it to anyone.

This story is just a good read, and such a testimony of a young man struck with lucemia, his spirit his valor...emotions are stired to beyond words.

I read this book as a teenager when it was first published - back in the mid 1970's. The story of Eric's struggle with leukemia moved me deeply. Little did I know that 20-some years later, grown with a family of my own, that my own teenage daughter would be diagnosed with the same disease. Had I not read it and learned the signs and symptoms of leukemia, I may not have known to get my daughter to the doctor as soon as I did. I'm happy to say that it has been 2 1/2 years since my daughter finished up a long course of chemotherapy and is doing well! If she stays cancer free another 2 1/2 years the doctors will call her 'cured'. A heartfelt THANK YOU to Doris Lund for sharing her touching story with us. No words can express my gratitude. If anyone knows how I can contact Ms. Lund, please email me - I would love to let her know how instrumental she was in my daughters diagnosis and survival.

I hate to be the skunk in the five-star garden party, but I remember reading, or rather trying to read, this book when in high school some *cough* 20 years ago. I could barely get through it. Apparently I wasn't alone, because someone else had graffitoed on the (soft) cover, "This book sucks. Don't read it."

Sometimes I think there should be a moratorium on grieving parents writing about their dead offspring. Aside from one brief moment when Lund catches her son checking out girls in a hospital corridor or waiting room, I don't remember a single aspect of Eric's personality aside from "Mama's Little Angel." And although my memory is vague on this, I seem to recall the book contains a fair amount of delusional mumbo-jumbo about "God's will" ('scuse me while I barf).

If you want to read a superb book by someone who lost a child to cancer, read "Death Be Not Proud" by John Gunther. That book preserves every quirk of his late son Johnny's wry sense of humor and considerable intellect, and actually makes you regret that the son didn't live to take up the father's pen. Not only that, but Gunther deals with hard questions of mortality and loss without resorting to the kind of sticky sentimentality you'd expect from Oprah or the "women's channels" on cable TV. Cripes, even Marie Killilea's books about her handicapped (no, NOT "differently abled") daughter Karen are better than Lund's book.

The entire genre, for obvious reasons, is for the most part manipulatively mawkish, but that's what sells, I guess. If you have an "I Believe in Angels" bumper sticker on your car, Thomas Kincaide "paintings" on your walls, and every CD Whitney Houston ever recorded in your music collection, go ahead and order "Eric." You'll cry your eyes out and write a five-star review.

Death and Dying are a difficult concept to explain to young children. Water Bugs & Dragonflies gracefully addresses this subject with illustrations that are clear and meaningful enough to share with grieving adults. Because of this book, our family has adopted the dragonfly as a meaningful symbol representative of a beloved friend recently deceased. I highly recommend this book.

I know many pastors who recommend this book for use with children. I recently gave it to an adult friend on the death of her sister. Simply put, it is a tale of transformation told for those who are left behind when a loved one goes on to the next phase. simple and timeless.

When I first received this book, I thought there is no way this is going to help explain anything and boy was I wrong. My husband of 5 years passed away very sudden and unexpectedly and I bought this book for our two sons who are 4 and 2. I read the story to them when I first received the book. The whole concept of how the water bug's body changed once he became a dragon fly and how he could not go back into the water was excellent. My 4 year old evey requests me to read this book to him. The prayer at the end is awesome. THANKS from a worried mother!

What a beautiful and simple way to explain death to children (and adults) using the cycle of the waterbug. This story was told to me 22 years ago by the pastor at my father's funeral and I was so excited to find it in book form. I shared it with families when I was a school nurse-teacher and now with my grandchildren when my mom passed away. I would highly recommend it to all who are faced with the task of helping children (and grieving adults) through a very difficult time.

My 3.5 yr-old daughter's great-grandpa passed away. We were going to be attending the funeral, and I was one of the readers at the funeral. I knew she needed an explanation of what was going on. A bright girl, I knew that whatever I told her was going to stick, so I wanted to get the words right. I read a touching review of this booklet and decided to give it a try. It is small - the size of a CD booklet. But the words, written by a minister after his son's friend died, are poetic and poignant. 3 months later, my daughter still understands that great-grandpa is in Heaven (dragonfly) and we're still "in the pond" (water bugs). The word Heaven is not used in the book until the prayer at the end of it, which is also simple and great.

This book offers the very information people really need at the most difficult time in their life. Talking to other people about someone dying is usually a frustrating experience - they just don't understand. This writer does, and addresses issues only someone who has been through it understands. It's a great resource and a real lifeline for the living to the dying.

As an oncology chaplain at UCLA Medical Center, I am always looking for practical, helpful, and meaningful resources that I can use to help patients, their caregivers, and other health care professionals deal with the overwhelming challenges that serious illness can present. "Where Souls Meet" is one of the best resources I have read on this subject. It serves as a deeply moving and personal guide that will lead the reader through the journey that all of us, in one way or another, will someday travel.

AT A TIME WHEN PEOPLE CAN FEEL THERE IS NO HOPE, COMES A BEAUTIFUL RAY OF SUNSHINE. DILLON'S INSITE AND DIRECTION IS A BREATH OF FRESH AIR. AS A HOSPICE VOLUNTEER COORDINATOR, THIS BOOK HAS PUT NEW INSPIRATION INTO MY JOB. I HAVE A MUCH BETTER UNDERSTANDING AND INSITE INTO HOW TO HELP OUR VOLUNTEERS, OUR PATIENT'S AND FAMILIES DEAL WITH THE MOST DIFFICULT TIME OF THEIR LIFE. HAVING LOST CLOSE FAMILY AND FRIENDS PERSONALLY, WHERE SOLES MEET HAS HELPED ME RESOLVE PERSONAL ISSUES AND HAS GIVEN ME A PEACE IN MY HEART I HAVE NOT HAD BEFORE. I PLAN TO INCORPORATE THIS BOOK INTO OUR TRAINING CLASSES AND HAVE COPIES AVAILABLE FOR OUR PATIENTS. I HAD THE GREAT HONOR OF MEETING DILLON EARLIER THIS MONTH, AND I ENCOURAGE EVERYONE WHO HAS A CHANCE TO HEAR HIM IN CONCERT OR AT A SPEAKING ENGAGEMENT TO DO SO WITHOUT HESITATION.

This is a most excellant handbook that provides guidance and direction for family and caregivers of terminally ill people. It is the best and most thorough study that I have found on this subject. It clearly defines how to relate to a person who has been diagnosed with such an illness on the spiritual, emotional, and cognitive levels. It should be made a requirement for every hospice and healthcare worker who relates to terminally ill patients on a regular basis. Families with a terminally ill member will find the book most helpful. It will answer many of their questions and allow them to have a better informed understanding of the patient's emotional needs. It should be made available to all families who are caring for a terminally ill person. Besides focusing on our relational and vberbal behavior when relating to the terminally ill, it gives very practical suggestions. For example, appendice C gives suggestions on what to look for when hiring helpers for patient care. Appendice D has ideas and examples of how to make lists and charts for everyday monitoring.

Many times caregivers think only in terms of what they can offer the terminally ill patient. One chapter gives important lessons that the caregivers can learn from the terminally ill patient.

As a Certified Hospice Nurse and Hospice Administrator I have access to many tools to help both staff and loved ones through the grief journey. Where Souls Meet is both compelling and insightful. From introduction to appendix this book provides each reader with guidance and support through the most difficult time most of us will experience - the loss of a loved one. As we anticipate death, like life, we are faced with many challenges and obstacles. This book offers both inspiration and suggestions to help ease the fear. Dillon writes and shares with a level of emotion and realism that will help both caregivers and professionals alike. Share this book with a friend!

This is a beautiful book and I feel it is so wonderful for family caregivers who have just "gotten the call." It has so many personal insights and helpful tips, and I feel it gives a lot of strength and empowerment to caregivers. Please read this. You will be so glad that you did.

Beth has been there for all of us as the head of our "Caregiving" support group. Her experience and knowledge has helped us through, and her beautiful book has helped us know, why she is so caring of others. A must read for all CAREGIVERS.

Beth Witrogen McLeod's book Caregiving The Spiritual Journey of Love, Loss, and Renewal is a must read for any person taking care of an ill loved one, whether they are a child, spouse and/or aging parent. My interview with Beth revealed a strong woman with a fierce detrmination to help other caregivers make the most of a very painful situation. Beth includes her own personal journey along with the stories of hundreds of people she has met online in her chat groups or in person during her many public appearances in her incredible book. As the creator and editor of HotFlash! a woman's online perimenopause/menopause magazine and online support group, I have found women in the same place as Beth. She has described so well in her book the guilt, the pain, the sorrow and yes, at times, the joy of taking care of a sick loved one. In attempting to find hope and love in a truly difficult situation, Beth guides us to make good decisions not only for the person needing care but for the person herself. She pulls back the curtain on this often overlooked yet important topic.

This is a must read for anyone taking care of a loved one and for the rest of us who will one day be in these extraordinary shoes.

In an ideal world, we'd all have parents who we would want to help in old age, and it would be our honor to help them in their old age as they have helped us in our youth.

However, for the children of substance abuse parents and/or mentally ill patients the answers do not come easy. Things are much more complicated than simply finding a place to live, and deciding how much time you can spend with said loved one.

I'm not trying to over simplify, because all decisions dealing with older loved ones are difficult, but I was kind of hoping it would have given me more direction as to when its important to protect yourself as well. Its easy to get caught up in the caretaker role, feeling like a matyr without thinking about wheither or not this is the best desicion for you and your immediate family. Especially, if its puts you at risk for other health issues.

This is a fascinating book. I highly recommend it, although I was hoping it would have more concrete ideas for caring for an elder. I would recommend something like the Fourteen friends Guide to Eldercaring if you are looking for comcrete suggestions and a unique support group.

Our Mother recently passed away peacefully in the care of Hospice and my Brother. We had opted for Hospice in the final stages of her long and wonderful life. Last Rights gave us so much useful and comforting information during this time. We Highly recommend Last Rights!

This book is excellent for elderly persons and for those with serious illnesses. Kiernan's main point is that death in America is increasingly gradual rather than sudden, and is typically preceded by a long period of illness. Yet most doctors have almost no training at all in the care of terminal patients. The result is that patients frequently suffer unnecessarily. Be warned that some of the stories Kiernan tells of patients' last days in ICUs are nothing short of horrifying. I was stunned to find out that it is common practice for patients who are clearly already dead to have their clothes cut open and their hearts defibrillated and injected with adrenaline.

The American medical system is presently in a state of ever-diminishing returns. Costs keep rising, but health is not substantially improved; in fact, in many cases health is worsened by the aggressive medical interventions so common today. My husband and I spend a substantial chunk of our incomes on insurance for ourselves and our son. Are we getting our money's worth? I don't think so. Kiernan's book makes clear that a large part of the reason is that doctors are too cowardly to face a patient and admit that there isn't much more they can do. The fact is, though, that everyone dies sooner or later. I certainly hope that when my own time comes, I will die pain-free in peaceful surroundings, with music playing and someone there to hold my hand.

As a lawyer myself, I felt that Kiernan had too little to say on the contribution of lawyers to the problem of terminal illness and quality of care at the end of life. I think that one important change that needs to be made is a simple state or federal law that forbids suing a doctor for malpractice if he chooses not to implement certain treatments. I would propose that this list include: all forms of open-heart surgery, including cardiac bypass; heart defibrillation after cardiac arrest; CT and MRI scans; chemotherapy for persons who are over age 70 or who have other serious illnesses; and ICU treatment for persons over age 70 or who are terminally ill. Doctors would still be free to order these treatments if they felt that they were clinically necessary or desirable, but they would no longer have to live in fear of being sued if they don't take every step imaginable.

If you are considering surgery or other high-tech medical treatment, I would suggest pairing this book with The Last Well Person: How to Stay Well Despite the Health-Care System.

Everyone should read this book, especially those who like me, have had lifetime careers in the medical system.

This book was just what was needed to reassure our family that our decision for Hospice care was the right course for our elderly parent's end of life. It contained so many good suggestions that we were able to act upon. It helped us all cope with our loss, both before and after the actual death.

I recommend this book HIGHLY if you are facing a similar situation. The constant focus is on Quality of life and comfort during one's last days, just what my father wanted! Very reassuring!

This is a "Must Read" for everyone! As an R.N with 32 years experience (12 yrs critical care & 7 yrs In-Patient Hospice) it is my privilege to endorse this book. Mr. Kiernan has clearly and accurately documented what is a reality that will ultimately affect every single one of us. In both scope and depth Mr. Kiernan has spoken the truth. He has not embellished, exaggerated or dramatized any detail of his book. Every human being deserves to die in peace (spiritual and emotional) and free from pain. This is a goal which is attainable but I can assure you that your chances of experiencing this are not good in any of today's modern acute care hospitals or nursing homes. (There are always exceptions). Hospice care is the only option and that is primarily because hospice is not a place but a philosophy of care. All physicians can manage the care of an acutely ill person but only a few physicians are qualified to manage your care if you are dying because the vast majority of physicians do not recognize or they refuse to accept that there is a difference. Please read this book. It could be one of the most important things you ever do both for yourself and for those whom you love.

Barb Lyons, R.N.

This is a Wonderful Book.It has background of Lyz Glick and Her Late Husband Jeremy Meeting,falling in Love,Colledge,Marriage,the baby Emmy and the Hijacking leading to Jeremy's death.I highly recommend this book.

Glick's book is the only one that seems to be about an interesting human being. Beamer and Burnett are too full of Christian fundamentalist nuttiness and the Advocate guy who wrote the Bingham book is too obsessed by the fact that Bingam was a homosexual. Jeremy Glick seems to have been a much more real person, not a cardboard Christian warrior for God or a posterboy for the gay rights movement.

I was very anxious to read this book since I read an article on a Reader's Digest magazine about a year ago and so I requested my local library to buy it. I read it in a week, I am pretty sure I could've read it in two days if it wasn't because I have a lot of homework. All I can say is that I loved "Your Father's Voice". It is very well-written and moving.

Lyz Glick carefully tells the story of her life with Jeremy and her life once Jeremy was gone. She walks us through every memory she kept. She shares with us the weakest moments of her life after her husband's death, but she also states the importance of her and Jeremy's daughter in her life.

I have to applaud Liz Glick for managing to tackle such an enourmously emotional and personal subject with such grace. This book put thoughts in my head of what it would be like if I had to face the same reality she encountered, and I have to confess it brought me to tears often. What happened to her and to anyone whose loved ones were killed that horrible day is something you don't wish to anyone. Like I said I can't imagine enduring the things she went through.

I was totally blown away by this book. I undoubtedly recommend it. It's the kind of book you should have on your coffee table. You will see it is very hard to put it down.

vgxoxo@hotmail.com

This book was so beautifully and eloquently written. I read it over several days, it is almost impossible to put down. This book is a major tear jerker, though. It has been a long time since I have literally sobbed while reading a book. You actually feel sad when it is over, like you just want to read it again. It was heartbreaking to see what an amazing father he was to his baby daughter, and that he had just 12 weeks with her. I also loved, loved the writing style of Lyz Glick. The way that she described things, people, and events made you feel like you were right there. Well done!!!!

Lyz Glick, a self-described "single-married person," chose to write a series of letters to her daughter, Emerson, about Jeremy Glick: husband, father, and fighter-a hero who died on September 11, 2001, as one of the passengers on Flight 93.


Brutally honest, Lyz Glick and writer, Dan Zegart, create more than a book filled with letters to the Glick's daughter, Emerson, or "Emmy." Emmy, and readers around the world, will come to know a man who is both common and exceptional. Glimpses into the past, told by friends, family and his wife, show Glick's growth from precocious child to courageous man.


Emmy was not quite three-months old when her father and other passengers of Flight 93 became icons of courage in modern American history.


As Emmy learns about her father's past, from childhood to adulthood, readers also come to know Jeremy Glick, his wife, his extended family and friends.


Poignant, funny, wry, and sad, Your Father's Voice, is an intimate portrait of a special man whose past prepared him for the events on 9/11, an infamous day carved forever into American history.


Your Father's Voice is not a book to enjoy, but rather one to absorb.


This is a story of how the common man can rise with honor and sacrifice self to fight against evil. Jeremy Glick, in these letters to his daughter, is such a man-a man who became one of God's warriors.


Lyz Glick and Zegart, through Your Father's Voice, allows those of us who watched helplessly as events played out on 9/11 to believe in heroes and hold them close in our hearts.


Laced with humor, sadness, anger, curiosity and more, this book of letters is also an account of the process Mrs. Glick was forced to partake in as a surviving widow, or "single-married person," as she calls herself.


Though the details are sometimes gruesome, at the same time, they are important to not only Lyz Glick, but to readers as well. Because of her tenacity, the world can also take a step forward toward healing by putting to rest questions about that ugly day.


Your Father's Voice is not a sugarcoated account of Jeremy Glick's life. We meet Glick as he was-an ordinary man made extraordinary through his choices in life, and in death.

EVACUATION PLAN brought me to tears at several moments throughout the book. It's dark beauty and poetic interpretation of our struggle to embrace and accept death is heart wrenching in its honesty. A true work of art and a novel that O'Connell should be tremendously proud of!

"Evacuation Plan: a novel from the Hospice" is a wonderful blend of lives ordinary but with sometimes extraordinary elements. We all share these stories of life in some way, despite moments of harshness or unforgiving pain. There is always a common thread of "humanity" and ultimately forgiveness to be found, even if it's in the last moment of life. Elaine Williams

Aspiring script writer Matt visits a hospice in order to gather inspiration for his great play. Spending the days getting to know the people staying there, Matt realized the hospice is full of stories, for anybody who cares enough to sit down and listen. From the lady whose sister ran off with a circus artist (or wanted to, anyway) to the old man who was just hoping to be reconciled with his children before he left this earth, Matt talks to them all, asking them what was their best experience in life, and hearing the stories they just have to get off their chest-before it's too late.

The idea behind Evacuation Plan is brilliant. Joe O'Connell works from the theory that "everybody has a story to tell," and you are left with the knowledge that this is without a doubt true. The book changes focus constantly with the chapters alternatingly being told from Matt's point of view, and then from the view of one of the people at the hospice.

The main thread running through all the stories is death and how to cope with it, but this is not a strong enough connection to get the stories linked together properly, and Evacuation Plan ends up feeling more like a book of short stories with a common theme, than like a full novel. This doesn't make the book any less worth reading, but it is always an advantage for the reader to know what to expect, in order not to be disappointed by the number of loose threads left hanging.

Though dealing with a sober subject, Joe O'Connell manages to be neither too somber nor engage in too much gallows humor. Death is faced unapologetically and straightforward-a very refreshing change from books that tend to either shy away from the subject, or wallow in it.

Armchair Interviews says: This is more a collection of well-written short stories than a novel, with the thread that connects are the stories at the hospice.

Hospice-----a place to die. The End. Joe O'Connell's Evacuation Plan is a beautiful contradiction to those very general concepts of human finality. For those who believe there is life after death and for those who don't, O'Connell has shown that there is life BEFORE death with each glimpse into the souls, hearts and memories of us all. Evacuation Plan reminded me of the woven potholders that my older brother and I made during our childhood-------over, under, around and through, and a final stretch to completion. Life experiences- fascinating, painful, endearing, complex, ugly, but a part of each of us, make this book a worthwhile read. Joe O'Connell's writing opens our eyes wide to see human beings rather than Hospice patients and those who are brave enough to go as far with them as mortals are allowed to go.---Eleanor Bosl, Joe's mother-in-law and very proudly, his friend.

You are in a hospice, and Rod Serling walks in and asks you to tell him a story. If you had to pick one event out of your life to tell him about, what would it be? Evacuation Plan, by Texas writer Joe M. O'Connell, is a collection of stories told to the novel's protagonist, Matt, who is a screenwriter working in a hospice so he can collect material. The occupants of the hospice -- dying residents, their family members, and the hospice staff -- are like the tattoos of Ray Bradbury's Illustrated Man, each one offering a tale that stands out in their lives. Like the loser who stares at himself in childhood pictures until the pictures come to life. Or the guy who gambled his wife in a game of Monopoly at his murderer father's Christian home for the deranged. Or how fate undid the fate of a young unwed father-to-be. These are stories of reflection, of the best day in one's life, the worst day, the turning points, and the close calls, some joyous, some sad, some bizarre. Not the stuff one would discuss on a first date or a job interview. The surreal atmosphere of the hospice, where angels might be eavesdropping, drops the guard of the storytellers, and sincerity prevails. Evacuation Plan is both entertaining and thought provoking, and it is a wonderful book.