Until Further Notice I Am Alive

 Until Further Notice I Am Alive

Reviewed By  Janet Mawdesley       November 26, 2014

 

Author  Tom Lubbock

Distributor:     
ISBN:                 978-1-84708-531-3
Publisher:         Granta Books
Release Date:    

Website:    http://www.grantabooks.com 

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In 2008 Tom Lubbock was diagnosed with a brain tumour. From the first it was always understood there was no cure, it was simply a matter of time and management that was under discussion: the end result would still be the same.

As he had been a wordsmith all his adult life as both a writer and illustrator, was the chief Art critic of the Independent newspaper and had many other pieces published over the years he decide to write the journey of his remaining given time on this earth.

In doing so he has delivered a rare and beautiful essay to us all on thoughts, feelings, the progress of his condition, the manner of his and his Families’ way of coping, all in a style uniquely his.

This is in every sense his memoir, as well as a legacy left to his wife and son to treasure over the years to come.

 Along with his memoir he was also compiling what was to be a collection of his essays on painting, written over many years, into a book titled Great Works which was published in October 2011, nine months after his death.

That he would compile such a work is a tribute to the man himself who choose to make his final time on earth an adventure, a journey and a voyage of discovery, holding nothing back but enjoying the final days of his journey with compassion, love and care.

Deeply emotional and empowering this would have to be considered Lubbock’s finest work and a gift to all who face the final days of their lives: He lamented there was no “teaching how to die” but in writing as he has done, deliberately or not, he has created exactly that, with both grace and understanding.

Biographies, Non Fiction