On my knees in gratitude to NetGalley and Simon & Schuster for the opportunity to read this brilliant memoir. I will be shocked if a single person gives this book less than 5 stars.
I just finished reading this book. Hollowed. Hopeful. Just like the title, The Bright Hour, has different connotations - the bright spot glowing on a cancer scan to the quote from Emerson describing morning and being a prisoner of a sick body.
The great-great-great-granddaughter of Ralph Waldo Emerson is diagnosed with "one small spot" of breast cancer when she is 37 years old. Married and the mother of two young boys, her mother is also dying of blood cancer. This book is divided into the stages of her cancer, interspersed with quotes from both Emerson and Montaigne that speak to the wonders of this world and feelings of death.
While you may think this would be a depressing read, it is anything but. Nina's grace, humor, candor and courage are anything but depressing. The other bright spots - her family, friends, health care workers - can only leave you with feelings of gratitude and hope that you will find similar allies when you face your trials. Because as she writes, remember you must die. But this book is about living more than anything and will make you look at life and relationships with a different eye.
The epilogue by her husband was gut-wrenching but Nina definitely chose well in her choice of a life partner and father of her sons. This book will be an amazing legacy for them.
Right now - preorder this book so that you have it in your hands when it is published. I couldn't put it down and am honored to have read it.
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