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The Long Goodbye
- A Memoir
- Narrated by: Meghan O'Rourke
- Length: 6 hrs and 53 mins
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Publisher's Summary
From one of America's foremost young literary voices, a transcendent portrait of the unbearable anguish of grief and the enduring power of familial love.
What does it mean to mourn today, in a culture that has largely set aside rituals that acknowledge grief? After her mother died of cancer at the age of 55, Meghan O'Rourke found that nothing had prepared her for the intensity of her sorrow. In the first anguished days, she began to create a record of her interior life as a mourner, trying to capture the paradox of grief - its monumental agony and microscopic intimacies - an endeavor that ultimately bloomed into a profound look at how caring for her mother during her illness changed and strengthened their bond.
O'Rourke's story is one of a life gone off the rails, of how watching her mother's illness - and separating from her husband - left her fundamentally altered. But it is also one of resilience, as she observes her family persevere even in the face of immeasurable loss.
With lyricism and unswerving candor, The Long Goodbye conveys the fleeting moments of joy that make up a life, and the way memory can lead us out of the jagged darkness of loss. Effortlessly blending research and reflection, the personal and the universal, it is not only an exceptional memoir, but a necessary one.
Critic Reviews
Featured Article: Comforting Audiobooks About Grief and Loss That Actually Help
When it comes to the death of a loved one, there is no easy path forward. Grieving can place significant mental strain on those who are mourning. And because everyone grieves a little differently, it can be hard to know where to turn for help, or what to say to someone who is in the throes of grief. Audiobooks on grief can offer insight to those looking for ways to support the mourning, or a bit of comfort for anyone struggling with loss themselves.
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What listeners say about The Long Goodbye
Average Customer RatingsReviews - Please select the tabs below to change the source of reviews.
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Overall
- Pamela Harvey
- 04-18-11
Really great. Loved it.
O'Rourke writes with meticulous detail and creates a vivid emotional presence in this book. It could easily have been longer; every paragraph seemed worthy of expansion, and the book's not so much about loss, or about remembering the past, as it is about living in each moment and savoring the gifts contained in the present.
8 people found this helpful
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- Kindle Customer
- 04-17-17
Mixes emotions with statistics
I like this book because my mom is in hospice, although my mom is elderly and the author's mom was only 55 when she died. I lost my dad when he was 54 years old, but he died suddenly.
I can relate to a lot of what the author is saying and I do like how she mixed in with it like the stages of grief and how she did or did not follow those stages. I guess I'm just trying to prepare myself for when my mom passes. I listened to this book several times, I bet about three times total and several times I felt asleep to it. But that's not because the book is boring I think it's because I felt it comforting and I have been having insomnia, so having someone read to me who is going through some of the same emotional & physical care-taking related issues I'm going through was comforting and I drifted off to sleep. So I found this book to be super helpful.
2 people found this helpful
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- Taryn
- 07-10-12
Beautiful memoir
This was a beautifully written book about the author's journey though living with and then coming to terms with her mother's illness and subsequent death. It was not depressing to me, rather, it was eloquent and honest and gave insight into the roller coaster ride a family goes through when a loved one gets terminal cancer. Having gone through cancer with my child I could relate to so much of what she described. We thankfully had a positive outcome, but the experience changed us forever. We can choose to be changed for the better. The author uses this forum to deal with and make sense of her experience and does it in a way most of us could not articulate.
4 people found this helpful
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- Professor
- 07-10-22
Yes
Just wonderful- deep, honest, profound. Cannot recommend enough. Just maybe a better reader would have been nice but knowing the speaker was the person who lived through the book’s events was also a plus.
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- chrisbmartin
- 11-24-19
excellent examination of the loss of a mother
hard to say you loved something so sad as immersing yourself in some one else's grief. however the writing is excellent and it was some help in trying to deal with my own loss of a wife and bestfriend of 47 years.
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- tg
- 06-24-16
For the "unmothered"
Having recently lost my mother to cancer, I came across this book in my search to cope with my grief. I'm so glad I did. Meghan O'Rourke put into words what I feel but cannot express. It felt as though I had a companion by my side who understood the depths of my grief and the journey that I am in. I highly recommend this book for all the unmothered, particularly those who have experienced a terminal illness such as cancer. It's an awful club to become part of, but this book makes the journey not quite so lonely...
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- Stephanie
- 08-03-12
Author Narration is Sometimes NOT a Good Idea...
Would you recommend this book to a friend? Why or why not?
The book, yes -- the audiobook, no. Meghan O'Rourke's narration detracts from her own writing.
How could the performance have been better?
Definitely needed a professional reader.
Did The Long Goodbye inspire you to do anything?
It made me consider looking into getting back to work as a Voice Artist.
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- Marijane
- 07-12-12
Why do authors insist on narrating?
Very good story. I just happened to listen to this after Wild, both about women losing their mother at a young age. As an aside, both lost their marriages which escapes me. The mother daughter relationship is so complicated and I thought this book captured this well and I wish I could have been so eloquent with my feelings. Would have been better with another narrator.
1 person found this helpful