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Getting to Know Death: A Meditation
From New York Times -bestselling, three-time National Book Award finalist Gail Godwin, a consideration of what makes for a life well lived―for readers of Oliver Sacks’s Gratitude and Deborah Levy’s Cost of Living .
I can't see a way out of this.
Things will not necessarily get better.
This is my life, but I may not get to do what I want in it.
Ingmar Bergman once said that an artist should always have one work between himself and death. When renowned author Gail Godwin tripped and broke her neck while watering the dogwood tree in her garden at age 85, a lifetime of writing and publishing behind her and a half-finished novel in tow, the idea quickly unfurled in front of her, forcing her to confront a creative life interrupted. In GETTING TO KNOW DEATH, Godwin shares what spoke to her while in a desperate place, remembering those she has loved and survived over the course of a long life, including a brother and father lost to suicide; finding meaning in the encounters she has with other patients as she heals; and taking stock of a life toward the end of its long, graceful arc, finding her path through the words she has written and the people she has loved.
At once beautiful, biting, precise, poetic, and propulsive, GETTING TO KNOW DEATH is her own reckoning with the meaning of a life, the forms of passion that guide it, and how the stories we hold can shape our memories and preserve our selves as we write our own endings.
I can't see a way out of this.
Things will not necessarily get better.
This is my life, but I may not get to do what I want in it.
Ingmar Bergman once said that an artist should always have one work between himself and death. When renowned author Gail Godwin tripped and broke her neck while watering the dogwood tree in her garden at age 85, a lifetime of writing and publishing behind her and a half-finished novel in tow, the idea quickly unfurled in front of her, forcing her to confront a creative life interrupted. In GETTING TO KNOW DEATH, Godwin shares what spoke to her while in a desperate place, remembering those she has loved and survived over the course of a long life, including a brother and father lost to suicide; finding meaning in the encounters she has with other patients as she heals; and taking stock of a life toward the end of its long, graceful arc, finding her path through the words she has written and the people she has loved.
At once beautiful, biting, precise, poetic, and propulsive, GETTING TO KNOW DEATH is her own reckoning with the meaning of a life, the forms of passion that guide it, and how the stories we hold can shape our memories and preserve our selves as we write our own endings.
- GenresMemoirNonfictionHealth
192 pages, Hardcover
First published June 11, 2024
About the author
Gail Godwin
51 books398 followersGail Kathleen Godwin is an American novelist and short story writer. She has published one non-fiction work, two collections of short stories, and eleven novels, three of which have been nominated for the National Book Award and five of which have made the New York Times Bestseller List.
Godwin's body of work has garnered many honors, including three National Book Award nominations, a Guggenheim Fellowship, National Endowment for the Arts grants for both fiction and libretto writing, and the Award in Literature from the American Academy and Institute of Arts and Letters. Five of her novels have been on the New York Times best seller list.
Godwin lives and writes in Woodstock, New York.
Godwin's body of work has garnered many honors, including three National Book Award nominations, a Guggenheim Fellowship, National Endowment for the Arts grants for both fiction and libretto writing, and the Award in Literature from the American Academy and Institute of Arts and Letters. Five of her novels have been on the New York Times best seller list.
Godwin lives and writes in Woodstock, New York.
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Displaying 1 - 13 of 13 reviews
June 28, 2024
There were times when I felt more in tune with the author’s vision but ultimately realized that this is a book for a narrow audience—readers familiar with Godwin’s novels and life, and I don’t have that frame of reference. I came to this looking for a book about facing death that would reference her familiar but also the universal—and there wasn’t enough universal for me. For a Gail Godwin fan, I’m sure this was deeply moving but it was as if it was written in a language I don’t speak.
June 13, 2024
At 85, the author goes outside to water a dogwood tree in her backyard, falls, and breaks her neck. As she rehabilitates she realizes that she's not going to return to where she was physically, and taking the advice of her therapist she decides to get to know death. But, this book is really about life, not death, and the people and places that are important. The memoir feels a bit like stream of consciousness as Godwin skips between past and present and into the works' of authors she loves. But it works. I read this in one fully engaged sitting.
February 22, 2024
I have always enjoyed Gail Godwins novels and as I began reading Getting to Know Death I was completely swept into her thoughts on aging and life.Following an accident in her garden her independent life changes and she shares her recovery her life changes.So thoughtful so moving.so real. #netgalley #bloomsbury
April 15, 2024
Interesting.
Perhaps one would appreciate this more fully if one were familiar with the author's work.
Dazzled and blown away by the outstanding blurb and summary of Getting to Know Death by Gail Godwin, I requested this ARC from NetGalley. I was unfortunately, neither dazzled nor blown away.
Getting to Know Death was an interesting "meditation", as these meandering, repetitive, loosely connected sets of stories seem to be called. I almost stopped reading it more than once and it's a short book. And it seemed to get weirder as I kept reading, making me wish I *had* stopped reading.
This was an introspective look into the mind of a writer on the topic of death, but in this case, I think I'll pass.
Thanks to NetGalley, Publishers and Author for access to the ARC. All opinions are my own.
Perhaps one would appreciate this more fully if one were familiar with the author's work.
Dazzled and blown away by the outstanding blurb and summary of Getting to Know Death by Gail Godwin, I requested this ARC from NetGalley. I was unfortunately, neither dazzled nor blown away.
Getting to Know Death was an interesting "meditation", as these meandering, repetitive, loosely connected sets of stories seem to be called. I almost stopped reading it more than once and it's a short book. And it seemed to get weirder as I kept reading, making me wish I *had* stopped reading.
This was an introspective look into the mind of a writer on the topic of death, but in this case, I think I'll pass.
Thanks to NetGalley, Publishers and Author for access to the ARC. All opinions are my own.
May 6, 2024
Because I love Gail Godwin's fiction, I felt compelled to read this meditation. I was not disappointed. "Getting to Know Death" is beautifully written, engaging, and insightful without being sentimental. It begins with a life-changing accident and closes expecting her eighty-sixth birthday. If Godwin chooses to write a meditation on each of her years following this one, I will gladly read them all. Thank you to NetGalley for the ARC.
#GettingtoKnowDeath #NetGalley
#GettingtoKnowDeath #NetGalley
February 24, 2024
Thanks to NetGalley and Bloomsbury for the ARC!
Getting to Know Death is a muted but mesmerizing reflection on the final years of a life.
The book is characterized by a kind of good-humored grief as Gail Godwin recounts the many frustrations of aging—a mind that can outpace the body, the people around her recognizing her age before she can, a body that speaks for itself when she would rather it didn’t. She never shies away from the grim reality of nearing death, and the tone remains subdued. Even so, the book itself is never grim because Godwin refuses to leave the moment she is in. There are many reflections on the past, but they serve only to deepen her occupancy in the present.
The author entertains the anxieties of mortality, allowing them to interrupt narrative flow in much the same way that your grandparents talk about their friends dying, but she always anchors these sections to the significance of the grief. It’s hard enough to live—even harder to keep living without others, as so much of a person’s selfhood is defined by their relationships. Throughout the book, Godwin keeps a running list of everyone she outlives. We see her name alongside those of her friends, paired with birth and death dates, Godwin remaining an unclosed bracket.
As such, Getting to Know Death is primarily concerned with this: What does it mean for a life to be open-ended when time is no longer in front of it? It’s an unanswerable yet unavoidable question, and Godwin graciously invites readers into her journey deep into its center.
Getting to Know Death is a muted but mesmerizing reflection on the final years of a life.
The book is characterized by a kind of good-humored grief as Gail Godwin recounts the many frustrations of aging—a mind that can outpace the body, the people around her recognizing her age before she can, a body that speaks for itself when she would rather it didn’t. She never shies away from the grim reality of nearing death, and the tone remains subdued. Even so, the book itself is never grim because Godwin refuses to leave the moment she is in. There are many reflections on the past, but they serve only to deepen her occupancy in the present.
The author entertains the anxieties of mortality, allowing them to interrupt narrative flow in much the same way that your grandparents talk about their friends dying, but she always anchors these sections to the significance of the grief. It’s hard enough to live—even harder to keep living without others, as so much of a person’s selfhood is defined by their relationships. Throughout the book, Godwin keeps a running list of everyone she outlives. We see her name alongside those of her friends, paired with birth and death dates, Godwin remaining an unclosed bracket.
As such, Getting to Know Death is primarily concerned with this: What does it mean for a life to be open-ended when time is no longer in front of it? It’s an unanswerable yet unavoidable question, and Godwin graciously invites readers into her journey deep into its center.
June 19, 2024
3.5 stars. Read in one sitting. I had never heard of this author before but I found this book to be interesting and I couldn’t put it down. It did at times seem random but I’m assuming that if you know of her other works maybe it makes more sense. I still got something out of it even though I’ve never read anything else of hers. I am intrigued to read some of her novels now, so it was successful in that regard.
July 7, 2024
I have read all of Gail Godwin's novels - starting maybe 50 years ago! And so I feel like I know
this author - so, this book seemed to fit me. She is losing strength, etc. and losing people
she loves - she is in her late 80s. I am 80. These chapters are sort of random - that also
worked for me. I am glad Godwin chose to write this sort of as a post script to her tremendous
body of work. But, not for everyone.
this author - so, this book seemed to fit me. She is losing strength, etc. and losing people
she loves - she is in her late 80s. I am 80. These chapters are sort of random - that also
worked for me. I am glad Godwin chose to write this sort of as a post script to her tremendous
body of work. But, not for everyone.
June 13, 2024
I usually like Gail Godwin, but this is a real hodgepodge. This and that from here and there. Scattered and peppered with some interesting some less interesting and some downright boring observations. Of course, it’s hard to write about death, particularly ones own so I can see how it might be comforting to be distracted. However, overall, I found this volume to be extremely disappointing.
June 17, 2024
An 86 year old jumble
Getting to know death felt like a scholarly discourse on a variety of subjects, yet was a glimpse into the creative brain of a distinguished artist. I learned less of her and picked up only that to outlive everyone does not have to be a lonely journey.
Getting to know death felt like a scholarly discourse on a variety of subjects, yet was a glimpse into the creative brain of a distinguished artist. I learned less of her and picked up only that to outlive everyone does not have to be a lonely journey.
June 19, 2024
Fans of Gail Godwin -- count me in! -- will love this book. We have read Gail Godwin when she was young; what a pleasure to read her as she ages. Still a powerful writer. Still wise and appealing and well, just charming. A quick and pleasurable read.
Read
June 13, 2024Right on time for what's on my mind. Interesting, artfully written, highly personal ways to think about liss and mortality
June 14, 2024
I found this very scattered, and while I admire Godwin for continuing to write deep into her 80’s, this was it her best effort
Displaying 1 - 13 of 13 reviews