What to read if you enjoyed W;t
We've chosen books that explore death and people's responses to it, so while death is the central theme of all of these books some of them take a different approach to what Margaret Edson did.
Burial rites, by Hannah Kent
Set against Iceland's stark landscape, Hannah Kent brings to vivid life the story of Agnes, who, charged with the brutal murder of her former master, is sent to an isolated farm to await execution. Horrified at the prospect of housing a convicted murderer, the family at first avoids Agnes. Only Tóti, a priest Agnes has mysteriously chosen to be her spiritual guardian, seeks to understand her. But as Agnes's death looms, the farmer's wife and their daughters learn there is another side to the sensational story they've heard. Riveting and rich with lyricism, Burial Rites evokes a dramatic existence in a distant time and place, and asks the question, how can one woman hope to endure when her life depends upon the stories told by others? |
The death of Ivan Ilyich and other stories, by Leo Tolstoy The Death of Ivan Ilych is the story of a worldly careerist, a high court judge who has never given the inevitability of his dying so much as a passing thought. But one day, death announces itself to him, and to his shocked surprise, he is brought face to face with his own mortality. How, Tolstoy asks, does an unreflective man confront his one and only moment of truth? |
The road, by Cormac McCarthy
A father and his son walk alone through burned America. Nothing moves in the ravaged landscape save the ash on the wind. It is cold enough to crack stones, and when the snow falls it is gray. The sky is dark. Their destination is the coast, although they don’t know what, if anything, awaits them there. They have nothing; just a pistol to defend themselves against the lawless bands that stalk the road, the clothes they are wearing, a cart of scavenged food—and each other. The Road is the profoundly moving story of a journey. It boldly imagines a future in which no hope remains, but in which the father and his son, “each the other’s world entire,” are sustained by love. Awesome in the totality of its vision, it is an unflinching meditation on the worst and the best that we are capable of: ultimate destructiveness, desperate tenacity, and the tenderness that keeps two people alive in the face of total devastation. |
The honest truth, by Dan Gemeinhart
In all the ways that matter, Mark is a normal kid. He's got a dog named Beau and a best friend, Jessie. He likes to take photos and write haiku poems in his notebook. He dreams of climbing a mountain one day. But in one important way, Mark is not like other kids at all. Mark is sick. The kind of sick that means hospitals. And treatments. The kind of sick some people never get better from. So Mark runs away. He leaves home with his camera, his notebook, his dog, and a plan to reach the top of Mount Rainier--even if it's the last thing he ever does. |
Zac and Mia, by A.J. Betts
When I was little I believed in Jesus and Santa, spontaneous combustion, and the Loch Ness monster. Now I believe in science, statistics, and antibiotics. So says seventeen-year-old Zac Meier during a long, gruelling leukaemia treatment in Perth, Australia. A loud blast of Lady Gaga alerts him to the presence of Mia, the angry, not-at-all-stoic cancer patient in the room next door. Once released, the two near-strangers can’t forget each other, even as they desperately try to resume normal lives. The story of their mysterious connection drives this unflinchingly tough, tender novel told in two voices. Borrow on the Inaburra eLibrary |
The fault in our stars, by John Green Despite the tumour-shrinking medical miracle that has bought her a few years, Hazel has never been anything but terminal, her final chapter inscribed upon diagnosis. But when a gorgeous plot twist named Augustus Waters suddenly appears at Cancer Kid Support Group, Hazel's story is about to be completely rewritten. Borrow on the Inaburra eLibrary |
By your side, by Jason Carrasco
'I'll be waiting for you, and when we beat this thing we are going to celebrate.' At 15 Cass Nascimento was so beautiful she left boys tongue-tied. But her beauty was more than skin-deep: she was a sunny, generous, kind force of nature. When Jason Carrasco was diagnosed with fast-spreading cancer at age 18 he feared the worst. Despite a loving family and supportive friends, he couldn't seem to find the strength needed to survive. Then came Cass. As terrible as Jason's ordeal was, Cass had already endured far worse, after being diagnosed with a malignant brain tumour at just 16 years old. The way she dealt with her diagnosis and gruelling treatment stunned everyone who came into contact with her the more terrible things got, the brighter Cass's light shone. Now in remission, Cass knew firsthand how isolating it is to be a teenager whose future has been ripped away, so when she learned about Jason she was determined he would never feel alone again – she would be by his side no matter what. Cass was true to her word, and with her inspiration Jason made it through and was declared cancer-free. But fate had a terrible twist in store. Just as Jason walked into the sunlight Cass's cancer returned. Now it was his turn to be there for her, hoping against hope that their deepest of bonds and her remarkable optimistic spirit and love for life would be enough to save this special girl. |
Updated October 2021
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