Whichis that the moment of death occurs while weare still alive. Life marches right up to the wallof that final darkness, one extreme state ofbeing butting against the other. Not evena breath separates them. Not even a blink ofthe eye. A person can go on and on tunedin to the daily music of food and workand weather and speech right up to the lastminute, so that not a single thing gets lost. —From The Stone Diaries ON THE LAST DAY of January 2002, Elma wrote that her “primary tumour had shrunk to virtually zero, with no activity at all. So no more chemo!” But as January turned into February, the signals grew darker. Dear A., No more chemo is a lovely prospect, indeed, but I must remember that the brain is a whole different story, and it has always been the big problem. No one was really very concerned about the chest tumour, except to radiate it in order to keep it from becoming so large as to be painful. The chemo was to help stop its (lung tumour) metastasizing (say into the other lung), and thus decreasing my general well-being.
What do You think about The Staircase Letters (2008)?
