posts on 10/9/2006 12:16:25 PM
Your book helped me immensely. My only child,David,has been sick for 16 years from complications of a benign brain tumor. He is 30 now. Last year,experimental surgery helped him lead a fairly normal life. We are so proud of him.
But,after 3 brain surgeies and more to come,I became taped out emotionally and ended up in the hospital. Just coming so close to losing him changed me forever and I still struggle daily,trying to unfray my nerves.
This isn't even close to what you have gone through,I know. I read your book,tears streaming down my eyes over your loss and the loss of three wonderful young people with so much to offer the world.
I gave my worries to God and that helps a bit but I will never be the same person I was before David got so sick. He now has a wonderful,loving wife who cares for him and never complains. Just like you. Her name is Karen and,like you,she is an angel sent from God.
God Bless You,Carole,now and forever.
Janie
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posts on 10/1/2006 12:51:18 PM
On page 248 you wrote about my life - My husband had back surgery-gone-wrong and we were left with an incomplete life. I want to thank you for your literary talents and ability to express your human emotions - perhaps I should write a book - but I thank God you wrote yours. I hope your life is somewhat filled with happiness now - you will see them again,
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posts on 9/27/2006 10:38:51 PM
I just read this book, and I cried like a baby. I cried not only because of what Carole went through, but it hit so close to home with things I've recently been through. My aunt died in October, My cousin died in November a day before she was to give birth, and a day before Christmas we found out that my grandfather has lung cancer. For the past 9 months I've watched what's actually happening. This book made me think of all the times I felt like I couldn't go on, that I couldn't make it another day, then I realized that I had to go on, because that's the only thing to do. I think what Carole didn't realize was the strength that she had. Just wanted to say thank you Carole for your words, wisdom and strength, because now I'm finally finding my own!
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posts on 9/19/2006 6:19:07 PM
This truly is a one of the best books I have ever read. My mother-in-law has just begun her battle with cancer. After reading Carole's book, I see the path ahead of our family much more realistically and will be much better prepared for the journey. Thank you Carole, through your honesty and courage, you have enlightened us all!
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posts on 9/4/2006 10:44:34 AM
What an authentic memoir of personal and public loss. "Princess" Radziwill has written without self pity or self glorification, without casting herself as victim, martyr or even as a celebrity. She presents a vulnerable soul's response to the horrific loss of her husband after a 5 year battle with cancer and the sudden deaths of her friends all in a 3 week period. You forget that she is writing about Anthony and Lee Radziwill ,Jackie Kennedy,JFK JR, Carolyn Bessette, Caroline Kennedy, Diane Sawyer, Mike Nichols,etc.They beome simply her friends and family,John,John's mother,Anthony,her mother-in-law,her best friend, Diane and Mike....I had no sense of guilty voyeristic pleasure that often motivates one to read these memoirs but rather I was rewarded with a cathartic response.Having suffered multiple losses in my own life in the past 2 years and sharing the public's sense of mourning over the JFK/Radziwill tragedy, Carole's genuine voice embraced my heart.She was not,in her mind, brave or heroic, the stoic nurturing wife lovingly at his bedside.She was angry and in denial and just kept going,taking care of the details and managing his care because what other choice did she have? And that is what, in the end, makes her brave and loving and nurturing. Because she did have choices but chose to stay and battle.To the end, Carole put Anthony's feelings first but balances it with her own internal painful struggle.She is so vulnerably human that she reflects back to us our own personal conflicts with life's traumas.This is not when bad things happen to good people why us Lord. This is,as Carole writes, when the Goddess Fortuna, with a flick of her wrist ,cooly disperses both the good and bad fotune. And Happy endings are just an incomplete story.Carole's book followed my own grieving process and she became that literary friend we all seek when we read.
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