Thank You Canton Press and Netgalley for an ARC of this book in return for my honest review.

This is a beautiful book written by a wife whose husband has been diagnosed with terminal cancer, and the journey that they are led on. It is heartbreaking but also uplifting and honest. A wonderful testament to making the most of an unchangeable situation and embracing everything you can.

Thank you for sharing this beautiful memoir and your strength within.

Oh wow. Put some time away for this book. It is a lovely Memoir. So many feelings and so well written.

Can't say enough great about this. Read it today!!

Thank you NetGalley for allowing me to read this fabulous book.

Three and a half star rating.
Susan and Bruce, a wonderful couple with a fantastic family and then suddenly Bruce is diagnosed with a particularly nasty terminal illness. This is their story of how they faced and dealt with all that life threw at them. Knowing when it’s time to stop pumping your body full of powerful chemicals and prepare for the inevitable. A very sad story but also uplifting too. Susan has a way with words and the reader feels they have got to know her through this account of love and loss.

An Uplifting End-Of-Life Journey
Susan Hoben was a breast cancer survivor.

In 2008. Bruce Hoben was diagnosed with a tumor where the esophagus joins the stomach. Bruce was 67-years-old and appeared to be in excellent physical condition.

Bruce was diagnosed with a neuroendocrine tumor. There was also significant disease in the lymph nodes and four nodules on the liver. Bruce had stage 4 cancer and the prognosis was not good.

Bruce received chemotherapy treatments and experienced a brief remission. When the cancer came back, the Hobens decided to refuse any further treatments and let the disease run it's course. This is their story.

My Thoughts
This book was written in the form of a personal diary or journal.

Mrs. Hoben wrote about her husband's final months with love, compassion and empathy. This book is truly a celebration of life.

Bruce Hoben spent his final weeks saying goodbye to former coworkers, neighbors, friends and family members. The family events and interactions were especially heart-warming and poignant.

Mr. Hoben did not spend his final days in a hospital undergoing extreme measures that would put his quality of life in jeopardy. He was under the care of his physician and a hospice service, but he stayed at home with his loved ones.

Bruce Hoben passed away peacefully and surrounded by family on June 15, 2009.

This book is an excellent resource for families who are facing end-of-life decisions. We will all have to face our own deaths and the deaths of loved ones. This book provides many important subjects to think about. Highly recommended!

I downloaded this book as a friend was seeing here beloved husband slip away from cancer. This book is emotional and fascinating. It was positive, and courageous. I found the writing was well done. It is honest and heart wrenching. It teaches us to never give up living until life is over and that dying well us as important as living well. I am so thankful I read this book. Thank you to Netgalley for offering this book in exchange for my honest review.

I haven’t been taking on review requests, for the most part, considering my reading is moody and I pick up books from the library and then I buy some to participate in buddy reads. However, when the request for review for this one came in, I immediately said yes. One reason being I am focusing a whole lot on non-fiction this year. And secondly, the book’s synopsis spoke to me both psychologically and as a person. So here I am.

It’s easy to get tangled in Susan’s life without realizing it. She weaves her life into a story, introduces the characters, makes us get a feel for them before venturing on to what happens to these characters. And this is precisely what happened. Reading ‘Dying Well’ is not just about life and death but so much more. About family and relationships and savoring the joyous moments of life.

Susan comes across as courageous, practical, well organized and someone who has her head firmly planted on her shoulders. And through her words, we get to know Bruce, her husband who knew what he wanted and how he wanted it in the face of death when most people would crumble and hang onto every thread of life left.

Reading this book is taking a journey with Susan, a difficult one but it has its moments of celebrations and joys that make us feel proud of their entire family and experience a sense of contentment about how Bruce lived the last few months of his life.

This book is about embarking on a journey with bravery and courage. It’s a lesson in dying and how to do it well; how to really live until the last moment of one’s life when death is staring you in the eyes. This ensures there are no regrets and you have lived your life well.

It’s a must-read for anyone and everyone who has a family member with a terminal illness or is undergoing one, themselves. It gives you a perspective of how until death arrives, every moment of life is to be celebrated and made use of, with friendships fostered and relationships made even richer.

Dying Well is a beautiful and tragic story of love and loss (like the title says). Susan and Bruce had a long happy life together until Bruce died from esophageal cancer. In Dying Well, Susan documents their time together and provides some of the best dialogue that I've read so far on this topic regarding end of life planning and family dynamics. While I recognize that this is another story about end of life planning written from someone that has access to great healthcare and the money to be with family that many families do not have, I think this was a great addition to the growing pile of books on this topic.

I really enjoyed reading about Bruce and hearing from Susan what it was like not only going through her own medical struggles but also then taking on the role of caregiver for her husband. Navigating hospitals, doctors appointments, hospice, grown children, and grandchildren while also trying to have a social life was pretty stressful to read about and I really appreciate her honesty throughout the book.

I would definitely recommend this one for anyone looking to learn more about what end of life care can and should look like. It really highlights the importance of having these difficult conversations as early as possible.

2.5 stars, rounded up to 3
Dying Well is a personal story of foregoing further harsh treatments with a stage 4 (terminal) cancer diagnosis – with a supportive family, loving friends and colleagues, a custom pool, a large catamaran, an Alfa Romero and a life of privilege, great doctors and hospice care. Kind of makes it sound like a fairy tale for people not in that situation.

I’ve read quite a few ‘I Had Cancer books’ over the years, because I had it too. Dying Well does not stand out among them. Clear, straightforward writing, but nothing elegant or emotional. I wish I had heard Bruce’s voice and not just Susan telling about her husband’s ‘last journey.’

The author flaunted too much ego for my personal taste. Ducharme Hoben (high school valedictorian, Cornell University scholarship recipient and in her words, “pretty enough to be the runner up in the Connecticut Miss Jantzen competition”) writes, “My years as a manager, and later as an executive consultant had taught me much; my project management skills would be heavily utilized over the next months. Once again, I was struck by how difficult it would be for someone without my skills and experience to navigate the health care system.” “We still had age, health and an indomitable spirit on our side. We had already learned the value of celebrating life every day and were accomplished practitioners.”

The well-to-do family enjoys special times in New York, visits Bruce’s hometown and flies their children and families to a luxurious beachside house for a week. “One beach house: $3790.63; Ten flights: $3754.52; Two cars: $751.39; Time together; priceless.” Occasionally Susan gave too many details. I did not really care which 7 magazines Bruce ‘religiously’ read. I did not need an itemized list of the 60 photos in his tribute video.

Bruce’s thoughts about his afterlife were “Just like the conservation of mass (Einstein), there must be conservation of energy. Therefore his soul, his energy, would continue to exist somewhere, somehow, although he didn’t know the form.” Susan wondered about heaven’s logistics. “How would everybody fit?” I’m personally looking forward to SO much more than that, based on my faith and God’s word.

The grieving widow “wore a long, black, clingy dress” … with dangly earrings that reached to her shoulder to celebrate a life well lived. (Yes, I am sounding petty.) “The ritual of this celebration, of the shared tears, made me feel that I was part of a team that had lovingly brought Bruce to his final destination. I could not have been prouder of this labor of love.” (Again, her ego comes to the forefront.) It is hard work to give this gift to someone precious to you. As she closes, I agree whole-heartedly. “Endings matter.” (Thus endeth this review.)

Thank you to NetGalley, the author and publisher for granting access to an arc of this book for an honest review.

Plato, the ancient Greek sage, famously said that life is nothing more than a study on the phenomenon of death. Taking this into consideration, this wonderful and moving book by Susan Ducharme Hobenok tries a philosophical approach to death as it describes the actions of a man who is diagnosed with cancer and finds himself confronted with the certitude of a prompt demise. The writer's narration and descriptions are real as she was the spouse of the deceased and this fact engages further the reader in terms of emotion and completes a truly fascinating reading experience. This is a book that should be read by all as it concerns each and every one of us.

A truly excellent read, this book is well-written and very moving. It is as much a love story for life as it is a testament to a good death. When the author's husband receives his terminal cancer diagnosis, they along with extended family and friends truly make his "end days" (months) a positive experience. I enjoyed this book very much.
My thanks to NetGalley for providing me with an eARC in exchange for my honest review.