Matter of Death and Life

'Our time together is limited and exceedingly precious. We write to make sense of our existence, even as it sweeps us into the darkest zones of physical decline, and death.'After spending a lifetime together, Irvin and Marilyn Yalom confront in alternating chapters the reality of Marilyn's terminal cancer diagnosis in this profoundly moving, tender and loving memoir. From Irvin's work in psychotherapy examining our fear of death, compounded with personal experience, A MATTER OF DEATH AND LIFE seeks to answer questions that we all hold about the end of our lives: How much are we willing to bear to stay alive? How can we end our days as painlessly as possible? How can we gracefully leave this world to the next generation?Told at first in alternating chapters between them, completed in the aftermath of Marilyn's death, A MATTER OF DEATH AND LIFE is an unforgettable portrait of love and unflinchingly examines what it means to live and die well.

Marilyn and Irvin write so luminously I feel I have lived that period of time alongside them ... I was deeply touched by Irvin's humility in acknowledging that we are simply unprepared for the great encounter with death, or for the loss of a soul-mate, no matter how closely we observe these stories as professionals. This book is illuminating and vivid, a beautiful examination of the consolation of a life well-lived, and a beacon of hope to all of us who will be bereaved. And of course, it is an exposition of how we who are mortal learn to live with that very truth about ourselves, A MATTER OF DEATH AND LIFE is wise, beautiful, heartbreaking, raw - a paean to enduring love and what it means, For over half a century, the eminent psychiatrist Irvin Yalom has dazzled the world with his stories of the human psyche packed with wisdom, insight, and humor. Now, with stunning candor and courage, he shares with us the most difficult experience of his life: the loss of his wife and steadfast companion since adolescence. Partners to the end, including in the co-writing of this book, they share an indelible portrait of bereavement - the terror, pain, denial, and reluctant acceptance. But what we are left with is much more than a profound story of enduring loss - it's an unforgettable and achingly beautiful story of enduring love. I will be thinking about this for years to come, This beautiful, poignant, and uplifting memoir is a love story, a tale of two incredibly accomplished lives that were lived almost as one, the sum turning out to be so much greater than its parts. It will inspire you and perhaps move you to look differently at your life - it did that for me, The Yaloms are not just honest, but astonishingly generous with their readers. This book takes its immediate place in the canon of great end-of-life memoirs

Irvin Yalom is Professor Emeritus of Psychiatry at Stanford University. He has won two major awards from the American Psychiatric Association and is the bestselling author of Love's Executioner, Momma and the Meaning of Life and The Gift of Therapy. He continues to run his clinical practice and lectures widely.Marilyn Yalom was a historian and author. She was a senior scholar at the Clayman Institute for Gender Research at Stanford University, and a professor of French. She served as the institute's director from 1984 to 1985. Her books included A History of the Breast, A History of the Wife, The American Resting Place, and How the French Invented Love. Yalom was decorated by the French government as an Officier des Palmes Academiques in 1991, and she received an Alumnae Achievement Award from Wellesley College in 2013. She died on 20 November 2019 from multiple myeloma, a form of cancer that affects the bone marrow.