A Very Easy Death

by Simone de Beauvoir

Paperback, 1990

Status

Available

Call number

848.91409

Publication

Penguin (1990), Paperback, 96 pages

Description

A Very Easy Death has long been considered one of Simone de Beauvoir's masterpieces. The profoundly moving, day-by-day recounting of her mother's death "shows the power of compassion when it is allied with acute intelligence" (The Sunday Telegraph). Powerful, touching, and sometimes shocking, this is an end-of-life account that no reader is likely to forget. Translated by Patrick O'Brian

User reviews

LibraryThing member carterchristian1

Short, an excellent account of a very common experience. We usually lose our mothers and often , like this, to cancer.

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LibraryThing member whyvonne

Possibly one of my favourite books of all time. Beauvoir pulls no punches in describing her mother, sickness be damned. She definitely comes off pretty cold, but at the end of it all, Beauvoir doesn't rely on sympathy or positive thinking or even kindness in order to communicate love (amongst other

things). Her feelings towards their relationship (as two women, as mother and daughter, as old and young) are complex and interesting, and she articulates such grey areas with skill throughout this little book.

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LibraryThing member Sean191

I'm not sure of what I think of this work. It felt a bit sterile - like a hospital (until you get a closer look). I believe it's autobiographical, but it just seems like it carried so little emotion for that.

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