| At the Eleventh Hour: Caring for My Dying Mother | 
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Avg. Customer Rating:   (based on 3 reviews)
Sales Rank: 1602229
Category: Book
Author: Susan Carol Stone
Publisher: Present Perfect Books
Studio: Present Perfect Books
Manufacturer: Present Perfect Books
Label: Present Perfect Books
Media: Paperback
Edition: 1st
Number Of Items: 1
Pages: 200
Shipping Weight (lbs): 0.6
Dimensions (in): 8.5 x 5.5 x 0.5
ISBN: 0963078453
Dewey Decimal Number: 306
EAN: 9780963078452
ASIN: 0963078453
Publication Date: August 2001
Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days
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| Editorial Reviews:
Product Description
When Blanche Stone was diagnosed with bone cancer, her daughter interrupted an unusual life--in a Buddhist monastery--to return home and become a full-time caregiver. With practical wisdom, humor, and an eye for telling detail, Susan relates their experiences sharing a house, dealing with finances, participating in family and holiday rituals, finding ways to ease Blanche's discomfort as her health declined, gratefully accepting the support of the local hospice, and coming to a greater appreciation of each other as individuals. Readers of any faith (or none) can benefit from these accounts of living moment by moment, responding without preconception to each evolving situation, embracing one's own needs along with the needs of a person facing death. Susan shows how such living happens: within a sacred place where there is room to honor and be awed by what is at hand, however difficult, and where one gains the freedom to enjoy it all. At the Eleventh Hour presents a model for how children can offer parents the gift of a "good death." In its natural weaving of spiritual truths into the daily fabric of life, it is an eloquent expression of how being present to dying expands the capacity for living. And, like a wise and supportive friend, it can lift spirits and be a reminder that, hard as it is, it's okay--and sometimes even fun. (In this way, it is similar to Tuesday's with Morrie which has lifted the spirits of millions).
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| Customer Reviews:
Beautifully shifts the focus, and balances the perspective January 18, 2002
5 out of 5 found this review helpful
This lovely work truly distinguishes itself from other memoirs about the loss of a parent. Instead of making the author/daughter the "heroine" who rescues her mother and becomes a saint in the process, Susan Stone sees herself in a dynamic where her mother is the teacher as well. This is about Buddhist practice, not just daughterly responsibility.
What I like best is how Stone catches herself in moments of arrogance or manipulation that other, less mindful people wouldn't even notice. She walks through the map of her own behavior and responses, and points out what she did, and what she thinks she could have done. Her behavior is quite exemplary, but it is also evident that she had enormous help from a mother who *also* worked very hard to do what was right. The book ends up being an homage to her mother's enlightenment.
My own father was dying when someone gave this book to me. My first thought was "Thanks, but I don't need a book to tell me how to feel." When I actually read it, though, I loved it, and learned so much about how to honor my dying father, rather than just focus on my own needs, strengths, and weaknesses. Stone is adept at shifting the focus to the strengths and gifts of the dying parent.
It's a beautiful book, and I hope it finds a large audience.
Carole Sargent, Ph.D., English professor
At the Eleventh Hour: Caring for My Dying Mother January 10, 2002
3 out of 3 found this review helpful
"Once I opened 'At the Eleventh Hour,' I found it hard to put down. I looked forward to returning to it each evening, and when I finished there was sadness for me in saying goodbye to both Susan and her mom. I see the book as a chapter in a mindful life and I look forward to the sequel."
Lisa Grinnell
Kusinara
Center for Conscious Living & Aging
Gila, NM
Poignant memory, and keen awareness of karma November 13, 2001
2 out of 2 found this review helpful
At The Eleventh Hour: Caring For My Dying Mother is author Susan Stone's own story, when the cancer diagnosis of her mother caused her to interrupt her life in a Buddhist monastery to cope with the reality of her mother's impending death. Closeness, loss, sadness and renewal are the hallmarks of this introspective yet warm book. Written with strength, poignant memory, and keen awareness of karma, At The Eleventh Hour is singularly affirming and highly recommended reading for students of Buddhism with respect to issues of death and dying, as well as anyone attempting to cope with the aging and infirmities of their parent's final days.
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