Genre: Memoir/Travel
Publish Date: 01/12/2014
Publisher: Self Published Event organized by: Literati Author Services, Inc.
~ Book Synopsis ~
Join award-winning memoirist Marlayna Glynn Brown on a tender journey to understand the father she never knew in life by spreading his ashes around the world after his death.
A relatable must-read for anyone who has lost a loved one, this memoir lights the way to afterlife and afterdeath where forgiveness supersedes pain, blame, remorse and regret.
In her effort to understand the generational effects of alcoholism and subsequent dysfunctional adult relationships, Marlayna takes her youngest son and her father's ashes on a personal journey, embarking on an emotional voyage to both physical and mental states of being. She confronts her own existence as a mother and a daughter, seeking and ultimately finding peace with her disappointment, anger, failed marriage, and complex relationships with her own four children.
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Excerpt:
Rest In Places: My Father's Post-Life Journey Around The
World
Excerpt
by Marlayna Glynn Brown
At last I have a few moments of silence to observe my
father. I take his hand in mine and think about the strange fact that I am
sitting at my father's death bed. It is an odd term. I turn it around in my
head like I would marbles in my mouth; rolling and grinding and scraping the
words against each other:
my
father's
death
bed
My father always had a rest spot in his homes, usually an
easy chair with a nearby table on which he would rest his cigarettes, ash tray
and glass of amber-colored VO whiskey. But this bed (this death bed) is
one from which he will not rise. He will not put on his tennis shoes and go for
a run around the park as he often did in his younger years during periods of
sobriety. He will not go to the kitchen to broil steaks, bake potatoes and
craft a salad for dinner all the while explaining to me how important it is
that a salad contain many different colors.
He will however go gently into that good night, and of this
there is no doubt.
His cigarettes, ash tray and whiskey have been replaced by
an oxygen tube and small plastic cup of water with a straw. He will think his
last thought, take his last breath in this bed. This will be the last view he
will ever have.
I recall all the times he worshipped and praised the beauty
of a day - the sunrise, the ocean, the sunset, the mountains - yet these four
unremarkable drab walls will be the last things he will see before he closes
his eyes for good. His bed is placed under the window so he is only able to see
out of the window if he looks at the reflection in the mirrored closet doors
before his bed. But even if he did so there is nothing to see: the window faces
a gray block wall impassively separating this property from the next.
Review:
I was a little nervous about reading this book. Not a huge fan of tear jerkers. I was really glad I did read it though. It is hard to write a review on a book that makes you reflect on your life as much as the book. In the end it was a beautiful read. I even found myself smiling at moments, when I just thought this book would be tears. A really great read that had me unable to put the book down. This is the perfect read for anyone who is struggling with the loss of a loved one. It definitely makes you stop and think about those relationships and connections you have with those you love. This is one of those reads that stays with you long after you put down the book. A great journey and growing moment.
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