The Death Class: A True Story About Life

The Death Class: A True Story About Life

The poignant, â€œpowerfulâ€ (The Boston Globe) look at how to appreciate life from an extraordinary professor who teaches about death: â€œPoetic passages and assorted revelations youâ€™ll likely not forgetâ€ (Chicago Tribune).

Why does a college course on death have a three-year waiting list? When nurse Norma Bowe decided to teach a course on death at a college in New Jersey, she never expected it to be popular. But year after year students crowd into her classroom, and the reason is clear: Normaâ€™s â€œdeath classâ€ is really about how to make the most of what poet Mary Oliver famously called our â€œone wild and precious life.â€

Under the guise of discussions about last wills and last breaths and visits to cemeteries and crematoriums, Norma teaches her students to find grace in one another. In The Death Class, award-winning journalist Erika Hayasaki followed Norma for more than four years, showing how she steers four extraordinary students from their tormented families and neighborhoods toward happiness: she rescues one young woman from her suicidal mother, helps a young man manage his schizophrenic brother, and inspires another to leave his gang life behind. Through this unorthodox class on death, Norma helps kids who are barely hanging on to understand not only the value of their own lives, but also the secret of fulfillment: to throw yourself into helping others.

Hayasakiâ€™s expert reporting and literary prose bring Normaâ€™s wisdom out of the classroom, transforming it into an inspiring lesson for all. In the end, Normaâ€™s very own lifeâ€”and how she lives itâ€”is the lecture that sticks. â€œReaders will come away struck by Boweâ€™s compassionâ€”and by the unexpectedly life-affirming messages of courage that spring from her studentsâ€™ harrowing experiencesâ€ (Entertainment Weekly).
Country USA
Brand Simon & Schuster
Manufacturer Simon & Schuster
Binding Paperback
ReleaseDate 2014-12-30
UnitCount 1
EANs 9781451642940

Country	USA
Brand	Simon & Schuster
Manufacturer	Simon & Schuster
Binding	Paperback
ReleaseDate	2014-12-30
UnitCount	1
EANs	9781451642940

The Death Class: A True Story About Life

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