Home Page

Autobiography / Biography   Travel / Places   Cooking / Food   Fashion / Health / Beauty   Other / General / Self-Help   Crafts / Home Improvement   Humor

Too Soon to Say Goodbye
by Art Buchwald
Random House
ISBN 1-4000-6627-1
Published November 2006 - Hardcover - 193 pages - $17.95

Many of us know Mr. Buchwald from his humorous newspaper columns, and of course, from his many books.  Kidney problems sent Mr. Buchwald to a hospice to have dialysis, and well, see out his last days.  Die he did not.  He proceeded to pen this book and receive any number of visitors in his "salon" at the hospice, people coming to pay their respects.  Can you imagine?  A man with his sense of humor and outlook on life in a hospice, "on standby for heaven" (the title of his first chapter!) as it were?  By all accounts he had a blast.  He met many people (including visitors of the hospice patients) and he relates tales of discussions he had - heaven, God, the devil, depression, death and dying, wills and funerals, visitors, friends, and sex among other things.  All made to sound humorous even if some of the subjects are pretty serious.  Mr. Buchwald knows how to laugh at himself and that's half the "battle of life" won.  You gotta laugh.  Prior to being admitted to the hospice, he had to have his leg amputated.  And he tried dialysis and decided to forgo it.  If only we all could have a sense of humor about dying - we all are going to, so why not?  Only a man this funny can turn being admitted to a hospice into a book.
Conclusion - This book will not disappoint.  It's pure Buchwald.