The gift of facing death with grace and courage

books:


	• Returning to Earth: A Novel Jim Harrison Grove Press, 2007 - 288 pages average customer review:based on 22 reviews view larger image
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highly recommended

bear with me while I die

This is the first novel I have read by this author. I thoroughly enjoyed it from the first to the last page. The narrative, in my opinion, was captivating and it was written well; it truly captured the consciousness of a dying man's thoughts. What I loved especially was the main character's narrative about his past, his culture and his ability to hold on to all of it in such a hectic world. His and other character's way of lives are in such contrast to the daily maze of madness 95% of us go through. At times during this novel, I almost wished I was one of the 5% who could have my days filled with walks in the woods and a general slowed down pace of life just enough to stop and see the bears or smell the roses.
I liked the other three main characters in the novel all equally as they each had a different perspective on what the main character's death did to them and how it affected the view they hold of the world.
At points, it was witty and made me laugh here and there because of the true nature of the tone and realistic sometimes blunt; though necessary for characterization, language.
Death isn't easy for anyone to deal with and most people can handle their own better than the one's they are close with, and in this novel I think Jim Harrison hits that aspect out of the park.
Could there have been more in depth discussion about Donald's culture or the history of his family? Maybe. But, in the end I really enjoyed the narrative and already miss the characters. They were all individuals but closely tied to one another with the common thread of having had Donald, the main character, as a part of their lives.

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Vintage Harrison

Jim Harrison is, quite simply, American's finest contemporary author. Few writers can craft a sequel that stands alone as a fine work of literature, but for Harrison it's a regular exercise. Harrison's characters are so well developed and completely compelling in their humanity, and the quality of his prose and the inventiveness he employs is remarkable. Harrison proves that we are a nation of interesting mortals whose lives are worthy of review and reflection and not fantastic superheroes doing the ridiculously impossible. At some point in the future historians and others interested in late 20th century Americana will turn to Harrison in general and "Returning to Earth" in particular to see how it really was. Excellent read.

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The gift of facing death with grace and courage

For the first part of the book I would have said it was about a man trying to tell his life story while his brain and body were dealing with the ravages of ALS. Then I thought the book was about supporting death with dignity and the differences in cultural responses to death. Then I was sort of confused because it looked like the book was becoming a collection of short stories about people who I really grew to care about but who were either pretty messed up before the book started or the damaged survivors of the horrible disease that ALS is. Then it was over and I grieved for a few days. After a few days while explaining the book to a friend I hit upon the deeper meaning that I accessed while reading and digesting it.
-- A person who is willing and able to face death with grace and courage leaves his loved ones with the gift of the grace and courage with which to face their lives.
As with all Harrison books that I have read there were the competing desires to read fast and find out what was going to happen and to read slow so as to make the book last as long as possible. Oh and the wonderful sense of internal resonance with the story being told.

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reviews: page 1, 2, 3, 4, 5

In the universally-praised Returning to Earth, Jim Harrison has delivered a masterpiece?a tender, profound, and magnificent novel about life, death, and the possibility of finding redemption in unlikely places. Donald is a middle-aged Chippewa-Finnish man slowly dying of Lou Gehrig?s disease. His condition deteriorating, he realizes no one will be able to pass on to his children their family history once he is gone. He begins dictating to his wife, Cynthia, stories he has never shared with anyone?as around him, his family struggles to lay him to rest with the same dignity with which he has lived. Over the course of the year following Donald?s death, his daughter begins studying Chippewa ideas of death for clues about her father?s religion, while Cynthia, bereft of the family she created to escape the malevolent influence of her own father, finds that redeeming the past is not a lost cause. Returning to Earth is a deeply moving book about origins and endings, making sense of loss, and living with honor for the dead. It is among the finest novels of Harrison?s long, storied career, and confirms his standing as one of the most important American writers now working.

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