{"product_id":"9781555977771","title":"The Art of Death : Writing the Final Story","description":"\u003cstrong\u003eThe Art of Death\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eAuthor(s): Edwidge Danticat\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003cb\u003eA moving reflection on a subject that touches us all, by the bestselling author of \u003ci\u003eClaire of the Sea Light\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eEdwidge Danticat’s \u003ci\u003eThe Art of Death: Writing the Final Story \u003c\/i\u003eis at once a personal account of her mother dying from cancer and a deeply considered reckoning with the ways that other writers have  approached death in their own work. “Writing has been the primary way I have tried to make sense of my losses,” Danticat notes in her introduction. “I have been writing about death for as long as I have been writing.” The book moves outward from the shock of her mother’s diagnosis and sifts through Danticat’s writing life and personal history, all the while shifting fluidly from examples that range from Gabriel García Márquez’s \u003ci\u003eOne Hundred Years of Solitude \u003c\/i\u003eto Toni Morrison’s \u003ci\u003eSula. \u003c\/i\u003eThe narrative, which continually circles the many incarnations of death from individual to large-scale catastrophes, culminates in a beautiful, heartrending prayer in the voice of Danticat’s mother. A moving tribute and a work of astute criticism, \u003ci\u003eThe Art of Death \u003c\/i\u003eis a book that will profoundly alter all who encounter it.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eReview(s):\u003cbr\u003e\u003cp\u003e“This book is a kind of prayer for her mother — an act of mourning and remembrance, a purposeful act of grieving. . . . Danticat writes beautifully about fellow writers, dissecting their magic and technique with a reader’s passion and a craftsman’s appraising eye. . . . As a grieving daughter, she wants to understand how others have grappled with this essential fact of human existence; and as a writer — a ‘sentence-maker,’ in the words of a DeLillo character — she wants to learn how to use language to try to express the inexpressible, to use her art to mourn.”\u003cb\u003e—\u003ci\u003eThe New York Times\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e“Danticat taps into such tough subject matter . . . with a trickless, spellbinding clarity. . . . This small book is a bracingly clear-eyed take on its subject.”\u003cb\u003e—\u003ci\u003eThe Boston Globe\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e“Danticat’s is a memoir written in a manner akin to the circular, overlapping and overwhelming processes of grief and mourning; she layers her story with other poems, memoirs, novels and essays about death, scaling the personal to wider-ranging political and ecological catastrophes. . . . Deeply felt.”\u003cb\u003e—\u003ci\u003eLos Angeles Times\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e“\u003ci\u003eThe Art of Death\u003c\/i\u003e offers an inspired syllabus of Danticat’s own design. . . . What’s important about reading great writing about death — or in the case of \u003ci\u003eThe Art of Death\u003c\/i\u003e, reading about reading about it — is that it teaches us how to live. Rather than shy away from these books, we should turn to them in all seasons.”\u003cb\u003e—\u003ci\u003eChicago Tribune\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e“There is, after all, no more universal experience for humans, other than birth, and that is, in some ways, what this beautiful book feels like; it is an offering, almost, a renewal about the ways in which we think about the unthinkable, force ourselves to confront the dark in order to live with light in our lives. It is elegant and thoughtful, and a fascinating meditation on the thing that brings us together.”\u003cb\u003e—\u003ci\u003eNylon\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e “It’s unusual for a craft book to make such an emotional impact, but \u003ci\u003eThe Art of Death\u003c\/i\u003e shows readers—through the words of others and through Danticat’s own—how it’s done.”\u003cb\u003e—\u003ci\u003eStar Tribune\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e (Minneapolis)\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e “In \u003ci\u003eThe Art of Death\u003c\/i\u003e, Danticat writes clearly and judiciously about a subject that is challenging for both writers and people to face directly. Her range and grasp of literary references is wide and powerful.”\u003cb\u003e—\u003ci\u003eMilwaukee Journal Sentinel\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e“Consider [\u003ci\u003eThe Art of Death\u003c\/i\u003e] a master class in literature and a guidebook for the most universal human experience.”\u003cb\u003e—\u003ci\u003eBUST Magazine\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e “A haunting heart-breaking book that illuminates the artfulness in writing about death as well as Danticat’s own genius at conjuring up powerful emotions.”\u003cb\u003e—\u003ci\u003eLiterary Hub\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e“A portrait of the emotional toll of death as well as a cathartic guide to finding peace.”\u003cb\u003e—Ryan Strong, \u003ci\u003eThe Paris Review\u003c\/i\u003e Staff Picks\u003c\/b\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e“\u003ci\u003eThe Art of Death\u003c\/i\u003e, much like the author’s prayer, feels like an offering, a study born of devotion. Part essay, part memoir, part elegy, the book has numerous obsessions — lingual, mortal, and parental — that come together to compelling effect. Danticat — who has published novels, short story collections, a memoir, a children’s book, and a volume of poetry — combines these forms fluidly, in a meditation as instructive as it is moving.”\u003cb\u003e—\u003ci\u003eLos Angeles Review of Books\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e“Remarkably rich. . . . This is a volume that respectfully and brilliantly draws in astute observations about scores of great writers and their relationship with death. More important, the skill and tact [Danticat] employs in bringing outside texts into her narrative should be a required roadmap that will reward inquisitive readers for years to come.”\u003cb\u003e—\u003ci\u003ePopMatters\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e “For a subject that’s so daunting to tackle, Danticat manages to distill death down to its core elements. . . . The penultimate section of \u003ci\u003eThe Art of Death\u003c\/i\u003e culminates with a prayer. . . [that] manages to accomplish everything Danticat does throughout \u003ci\u003eThe Art of Death\u003c\/i\u003e: leave you wanting more, while knowing in your heart that what you were given was just enough.”\u003cb\u003e—\u003ci\u003eMiami Rail\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e“Danticat’s literary reach is impressive—especially so in a book that spans fewer than 200 pages. . . . \u003ci\u003eThe Art of Death\u003c\/i\u003e overflows with life, quietly but insistently inspiring anyone reading it to make good use of what remains of that precious gift.”\u003cb\u003e—\u003ci\u003eShelf Awareness\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e“\u003ci\u003eThe Art of Death\u003c\/i\u003e is a rare blend of criticism and memoir, and it reaches a breathtakingly touching conclusion in the last chapter.”\u003cb\u003e—Garrand Conley,\u003ci\u003e Slice Magazine\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e“Danticat’s latest book articulates with fervent heart what we often cannot when faced with loss.”\u003cb\u003e—\u003ci\u003eDianca Potts\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e“The author lends a deeply personal touch to this study. . . . Danticat takes on an unpleasant topic with sensitivity and passion.”\u003cb\u003e—\u003ci\u003eKirkus Reviews\u003c\/i\u003e, starred review\u003c\/b\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e“In a series of linked essays on overlapping topics such as suicide, close calls, and how we relate to catastrophic events, she both shows how great writers make death meaningful, and explores her own raw grief over her mother’s death. This slim volume wraps literary criticism, philosophy, and memoir into a gracefully circling whole, echoing the nature of grief as ‘circles and circles of sorrow.’”\u003cb\u003e—\u003ci\u003ePublishers Weekly\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eISBN:  9781555977771\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e ","brand":"Graywolf Press","offers":[{"title":"Paperback \/ softback","offer_id":40611763847374,"sku":"9781555977771","price":14.0,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0600\/7029\/7806\/products\/getimage_89b0e0bd-c14f-418e-a66c-435ad8ad9566.jpg?v=1638234189","url":"https:\/\/pickwickbookshop.com\/products\/9781555977771","provider":"Pickwick Bookshop","version":"1.0","type":"link"}