Getting to Know Death

Reviews

[Getting to Know Death is] treasure trove of remembrance and candor . . . For Godwin, the author of 14 novels and two collections of short stories, writing is a form of prayer. Her faithfulness to her craft and the immersive nature of that craft allow her to probe profound questions. Getting to Know Death could just as easily be called Getting to Know Life. As a meditation, it is both unsentimental and full of wonder. As a piece of writing, it stands beside the best of Godwin’s fiction. Extraordinary. Godwin makes for good company, and the text sparkles with flashes of insight and humor. A tart, mordantly witty glimpse at losses past, as well as those to come. Godwin's volume proves the lasting power of the writer, deploying her skill as a weapon, even while staring down death. Getting to Know Death is full of grace and humor, memories of friends and people Godwin has outlived . . . If Godwin felt any despair during her recovery it was displaced by her endless curiosity . . . Her creative mind still skips and leaps, pirouetting from present to past, from people and books that have influenced her to the novel she’s in the process of writing. A powerful and poetic reflection on death, dying, and what constitutes a good life . . . Throughout, [Godwin’s] tone is curious and vaguely wonderstruck, resulting in an account that’s full of insight and free of platitude. This is a gift. Radiant ... Without her accident, Godwin would never have met individuals she now cherishes, her roommate at a rehabilitation center and her home health care worker chief among them. It is this that endures for her, along with writing and reading: not a power base in money or wealth or reputation, or an identity founded on any of that, but the possibility of newness and discovery in the ever-surprising form of other people. This, at least, never gets old. This slim book is a very rich memoir. It’s poignant and resonant. We see how the author struggles to continue to manage a creative life and to negotiate new ways to hold on to the passions from a long life and shape them in ways that allow her to continue to write stories with new beginnings—but also with endings that she can continue to accept through her thoughtful meditation. Infused with courage and clarity, her meditation is brightened by the kind of clins d’œil one often finds in Godwin’s universe—observations that are uplifting in their unsentimental realism, sometimes sharp and sardonic, but always heart-felt, life-affirming, and even humorous. Godwin’s clins d’œil are stars that illumine the darker and greater firmament of observations on life and death in Getting to Know Death. [A] short, powerful meditation on death, considered from many angles. Like everything the marvelous Gail Godwin writes, her meditation on mortality is vigorous, erudite, sharply witty, and deeply pleasurable. Getting to Know Death is brimming with life. Getting to Know Death may be the most uplifting, riveting book about ‘death’ you’ll ever read—probably because it’s actually about life, work, friendships, and love. Beautifully written, it also provides, directly and indirectly, insights about aging that can help us all live better now and through old age. Old friends now, Gail Godwin and I met as students in Kurt Vonnegut’s writing class. With insightful reflection, as she prepares herself for the inevitable, Gail has recalled the loved ones she’s lost—in the same crystalline prose that distinguishes her fiction. This book makes me remember the loved ones I’ve lost, in all the good ways. I wrote Gail that I especially loved the part about the man who thought she was a nun. He just mistook her dedication to writing for a different kind of devotion—one that also requires sacrifice. Godwin's latest book explores two great themes, love and loss. She writes about her extraordinary friend Pat and her many family members, including her partner, who have died. And she writes with courage and honesty about her own suffering at 86. Moving through life's journey, I look for role models for how to best live in each life stage. Godwin is now a role model for me. Expand reviews