Fathers Aren't Supposed to Die : Five Brothers Reunite To Say Good-bye

Rating:
Summary: Death Means Never Having to Say You're Normal
Review: ( )...The only words that miss the mark of literaryexcellenceare on the cover of T.M. Shine's remarkable tale.

Thisain't no how-to anything or a cry on Oprah's wide shoulders. This is something wonderfully other.

If Elizabeth Kubler-Ross met Carl Hiaasen, T.M. Shine would be their bastard child. This book is laugh out loud funny, except when it's ripping your guts out.

Bill Moyers sells Shine short when he alliterates in his testimonial that "Fathers . . ." is "marvelous, moving and memorable."

It is marvelous and moving. Quite so. But there are whole pages you'll hope aren't memorable, because feeling their wrenching impact once is as much as a person ought to bear.

Nice going Mr. Shine. Now please remind the folks at Amazon.com that people who read shouldn't be judged by their books' covers. END

Rating:
Summary: Death Means Never Having to Say You're Normal
Review: ( )...The only words that miss the mark of literaryexcellenceare on the cover of T.M. Shine's remarkable tale.

Thisain't no how-to anything or a cry on Oprah's wide shoulders. This is something wonderfully other.

If Elizabeth Kubler-Ross met Carl Hiaasen, T.M. Shine would be their bastard child. This book is laugh out loud funny, except when it's ripping your guts out.

Bill Moyers sells Shine short when he alliterates in his testimonial that "Fathers . . ." is "marvelous, moving and memorable."

It is marvelous and moving. Quite so. But there are whole pages you'll hope aren't memorable, because feeling their wrenching impact once is as much as a person ought to bear.

Nice going Mr. Shine. Now please remind the folks at Amazon.com that people who read shouldn't be judged by their books' covers. END

Rating:
Summary: Shared experiences, shared healing.
Review: I bought this book shortly after the death of my own father, and the subsequent reawakening of my friendship with my sister. I found the emotions and the passions in this book to resonate very deeply within my being - helping me to heal, since I learned that my feelings are common, valid and shared.

Rating:
Summary: Poignant and compelling
Review: This is a poignant, compelling story that those of us who are baby-boomers will soon experience ourselves, if we haven't already. Mr. Shine bears all - his personal pain, frustrations and annoyances - dealing with the inevitable death of his father and realizing the experience is bringing him close to his brothers once again and the past they share. He indicts the medical community that, he felt, treated his father as a temporary occupant of a hospital bed. Like impatient FAA air traffic controllers, nurses and doctors were unwilling to be inconvenienced by adult children who were reluctant to let the scheduled departure take off on time. A quick and fulfilling read.