The poet Nina Riggs was 38 years old and living with her young family in Greensboro, North Carolina when doctors discovered a small spot of cancer in her breast. What at first seemed easily treatable turned out not to be, and she found herself in what Montaigne – the writer she turns to for wisdom -- called “suspicious country”: a place where death might be just around the corner. In The Bright Hour, the book Riggs wrote during her ultimately terminal illness, she maps that country, determined to see what is lovely in the landscape: her sweet, expressive little boys, her husband, who is honest and funny whenever possible, and her circle of family and friends, some of whom are also going through treatment for cancer. Riggs’s great-great-great grandfather was the poet-philosopher Ralph Waldo Emerson (referred to here as RWE for short) and Riggs herself displays a formidable gift for language and a light but honest touch with the often -- but not always -- dark emotions evoked by her situation. To call a book so lovely and sad this year’s When Breath Becomes Air, would not be inaccurate, but would not do it justice. --Sarah Harrison Smith, The Amazon Book Review
Customer Reviews from Amazon :
✯✯✯✯✯
This is simply one of the most magnificent memoirs I've read in years. Even all the starred reviews and raving newspaper reviews' praises doesn't do The Bright Hour justice. I plan to give this book to loved ones for years to come and ordered a few extra copies to donate to our local cancer resource center at Providence. What a treasure this amazing woman has left behind. Don't miss this book.
✯✯✯✯✯
Nina Riggs' memoir, "The Bright Hour: A Memoir of Living and Dying" can be compared to "When Breath Became Air", by Dr Paul Kalanithi, which was published in 2016. Both were written by late-30's year olds who were facing the end of their lives with quiet fortitude and a sense of spirit. Both realised their coming deaths from cancer was the cruel reality that only few people ever have to face. Riggs and Kalamithi both wrote beautiful books that were "finished" after their deaths by their loving spouses.
Nina Riggs was in her mid-thirties when a small lump was found in her breast. She underwent surgery and chemotherapy and radiation in an attempt to stop the progress. She was from a family whose "tree" was riddled with cancer; her mother died shortly before she did from multiple-meyloma. Riggs helped nurse her mother but also nursed herself. As the mother of two young sons, Riggs and her husband, John, had the tough case of keeping things together, but also facing the future together.
How does one stay calm in the face of the diagnosis of Stage 4 cancer? Nina Riggs turned to her writing and began a blog, which developed into this book. As the great, great, great granddaughter of Ralph Waldo Emerson, she used his writing to help her approach to living and dying. She also turned to the writing of French Philosopher Michel de Montaigne, who popularised the essay as a literary genre. Most of Riggs' book is done in short essays. All told, Nina Riggs wrote beautifully before her untimely death.
書名 The bright hour: a memoir of living and dying
著者 Nina Riggs
索書號 WP870/R569/2017
出版者 Simon & Schuster
ISBN 9781501169359
出版年 2017
The poet Nina Riggs was 38 years old and living with her young family in Greensboro, North Carolina when doctors discovered a small spot of cancer in her breast. What at first seemed easily treatable turned out not to be, and she found herself in what Montaigne – the writer she turns to for wisdom -- called “suspicious country”: a place where death might be just around the corner. In The Bright Hour, the book Riggs wrote during her ultimately terminal illness, she maps that country, determined to see what is lovely in the landscape: her sweet, expressive little boys, her husband, who is honest and funny whenever possible, and her circle of family and friends, some of whom are also going through treatment for cancer. Riggs’s great-great-great grandfather was the poet-philosopher Ralph Waldo Emerson (referred to here as RWE for short) and Riggs herself displays a formidable gift for language and a light but honest touch with the often -- but not always -- dark emotions evoked by her situation. To call a book so lovely and sad this year’s When Breath Becomes Air, would not be inaccurate, but would not do it justice. --Sarah Harrison Smith, The Amazon Book Review
Customer Reviews from Amazon :
✯✯✯✯✯
This is simply one of the most magnificent memoirs I've read in years. Even all the starred reviews and raving newspaper reviews' praises doesn't do The Bright Hour justice. I plan to give this book to loved ones for years to come and ordered a few extra copies to donate to our local cancer resource center at Providence. What a treasure this amazing woman has left behind. Don't miss this book.
This is simply one of the most magnificent memoirs I've read in years. Even all the starred reviews and raving newspaper reviews' praises doesn't do The Bright Hour justice. I plan to give this book to loved ones for years to come and ordered a few extra copies to donate to our local cancer resource center at Providence. What a treasure this amazing woman has left behind. Don't miss this book.
✯✯✯✯✯
Nina Riggs' memoir, "The Bright Hour: A Memoir of Living and Dying" can be compared to "When Breath Became Air", by Dr Paul Kalanithi, which was published in 2016. Both were written by late-30's year olds who were facing the end of their lives with quiet fortitude and a sense of spirit. Both realised their coming deaths from cancer was the cruel reality that only few people ever have to face. Riggs and Kalamithi both wrote beautiful books that were "finished" after their deaths by their loving spouses.
Nina Riggs was in her mid-thirties when a small lump was found in her breast. She underwent surgery and chemotherapy and radiation in an attempt to stop the progress. She was from a family whose "tree" was riddled with cancer; her mother died shortly before she did from multiple-meyloma. Riggs helped nurse her mother but also nursed herself. As the mother of two young sons, Riggs and her husband, John, had the tough case of keeping things together, but also facing the future together.
How does one stay calm in the face of the diagnosis of Stage 4 cancer? Nina Riggs turned to her writing and began a blog, which developed into this book. As the great, great, great granddaughter of Ralph Waldo Emerson, she used his writing to help her approach to living and dying. She also turned to the writing of French Philosopher Michel de Montaigne, who popularised the essay as a literary genre. Most of Riggs' book is done in short essays. All told, Nina Riggs wrote beautifully before her untimely death.
Nina Riggs' memoir, "The Bright Hour: A Memoir of Living and Dying" can be compared to "When Breath Became Air", by Dr Paul Kalanithi, which was published in 2016. Both were written by late-30's year olds who were facing the end of their lives with quiet fortitude and a sense of spirit. Both realised their coming deaths from cancer was the cruel reality that only few people ever have to face. Riggs and Kalamithi both wrote beautiful books that were "finished" after their deaths by their loving spouses.
Nina Riggs was in her mid-thirties when a small lump was found in her breast. She underwent surgery and chemotherapy and radiation in an attempt to stop the progress. She was from a family whose "tree" was riddled with cancer; her mother died shortly before she did from multiple-meyloma. Riggs helped nurse her mother but also nursed herself. As the mother of two young sons, Riggs and her husband, John, had the tough case of keeping things together, but also facing the future together.
How does one stay calm in the face of the diagnosis of Stage 4 cancer? Nina Riggs turned to her writing and began a blog, which developed into this book. As the great, great, great granddaughter of Ralph Waldo Emerson, she used his writing to help her approach to living and dying. She also turned to the writing of French Philosopher Michel de Montaigne, who popularised the essay as a literary genre. Most of Riggs' book is done in short essays. All told, Nina Riggs wrote beautifully before her untimely death.
書名 The bright hour: a memoir of living and dying
著者 Nina Riggs
著者 Nina Riggs
索書號 WP870/R569/2017
出版者 Simon & Schuster
ISBN 9781501169359
出版年 2017
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