A Necessary End
In this poignant and beautifully written story, Nick Taylor tells of an encounter we all dread but someday will contend with: seeing our parents to the ends of their lives. For him, it is a journey of discovery of the meaning of his parents' lives and of just how deep his love for them is. We get to know John and Clare Taylor as they move from Florida to Mexico and back to Florida in their retirement, fending off the illnesses that eventually will claim them. The Taylors are good company:...
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In this poignant and beautifully written story, Nick Taylor tells of an encounter we all dread but someday will contend with: seeing our parents to the ends of their lives. For him, it is a journey of discovery of the meaning of his parents' lives and of just how deep his love for them is. We get to know John and Clare Taylor as they move from Florida to Mexico and back to Florida in their retirement, fending off the illnesses that eventually will claim them. The Taylors are good company: colorful, opinionated, and occasionally maddening to their son Nick, who recognizes their need for him with a mixture of love, irritation, and guilt. He knows their vulnerability as they confront the inevitable, and he shares their passage, giving us a kind of dress rehearsal for what we, too, will face. Comforting, moving, even inspirational, A Necessary End has the simple beauty of a classic, one of those special books that give meaning to common experience. Robert Coles Touching and telling...I can't think of a book more necessary than this one for all of us.
\ Robert ColesTouching and telling...I can't think of a book more necessary than this one for all of us.\ \ \ \ \ Publishers Weekly - Publisher's Weekly\ In a disarmingly candid, beautifully written memoir, Taylor ( Sons of the Father ) depicts the financial and emotional problems he encountered as one of the many middle-aged, self-absorbed offspring who suddenly find themselves faced with responsibility for aging parents. Taylor's fond appreciation for his mother and father's interests and rich past is mixed with exasperation and guilt as he recounts his struggle in 1989 to move his mentally and physically deteriorating parents from an independent life in a Mexican village to the security and care of a nursing home in Florida. The son recalls that shortly before dying after a fourth stroke, his mother gazed at him with ``a mother's full quotient of trust and love, which can never be equaled.'' His father died of cancer a few months later, leaving Taylor to say of their relationship that ``We had cared for each other as best we could, while caring for ourselves. There is really nothing more to know that matters.'' Illustrations not seen by PW . (Mar.)\ \
