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"The Living End is as funny as it is heartfelt.
Robert Leleux is among
the great emerging talents of his generation; I'm bowled over by the beauty of his writing.
-- Sarah Bird
Author of
The Yokota Officers Club and The Gap Year
“Not many people are able to find a silver lining in Alzheimer's, and few writers are gifted enough to make you see it and believe it. Leleux relates his family's story with
love, humor, and hope.”
-- Margo Howard
"Dear Margo" columnist
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-First Name, JULY 2010
Robert Leleux tickles his way to triumph yet again. With his trademark wit and colorful southern charm, The Living End transforms alzheimer's from a disease associated with loss into a blessing of myriad gain.
-- Josh Kilmer-Purcell
Author of
I Am Not Myself These Days: A Memoir
& The Bucolic Plague
Robert Leleux
Robert Leleux
"
The Living End is Robert Leleux's exceptionally moving memoir
about his beloved grandmother and his heroic caring for her
as she slipped into the grip of Alzheimer’s.
The book is at times hilarious, tender, and heartbreaking
--further proof that Mr. Leleux is ripening into
one of the best prose stylists in America.
"
-- Pat Conroy
Author of
The Prince of Tides & South of Broad
This spare, extraordinary book by turns
splits the sides and breaks the heart, but
it is the healing vibration of laughter you're left with -- what comes when one sees existence whole and luminous, and with it the daunting logic of human love.
-- Honor Moore
Author of
The Bishop's Daughter
& The White Blackbird
“Robert Leleux’s hilarious and poignant memoir of his fractured family takes an unexpected, wholly satisfying turn at the end: as lives ebb, memories fail, and
longwithheld loves emerge.”
-- John Berendt
Author of
Midnight In the Garden of Good and Evil
-- Neil White
Author of In the Sanctuary of Outcasts
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"In a wonderfully engaging
heart-of-the-matter voice, Robert Leleux chronicles his chic Texas grandmother's descent into the gloom of Alzheimer's.
He is circumspect in recording the many indignities the disease brings and equally faithful to praise the joys of a happy marriage, of good wigs and zinger punch lines.
Leleux's writing is as bright and elegant as one of his grandmother's hats,
his love of family and faith in their enduring strength a rare and refreshing thing."
-- Janis Owens
Author of
The Schooling of Claybird Catts, My Brother Michael,
& The Cracker Kitchen
-- Mark Childress
Author of
Georgia Bottoms & Crazy in Alabama
People are Talking...
"A fascinating Southern tale
of an estranged mother and daughter — and
the unlikely fate that brings them together.
Affably narrated by Robert Leleux,
a man who loved both women,
The Living End is a touching reminder that, ultimately, we are not defined by our memories. But our commitments to dwelling on the past and resentments can keep us from becoming the person we want to be.
Even for those we love the most."
"Robert Leleux sets off on a journey that will be familiar to many Baby Boomers
- watching a beloved elder painfully slipping away - but his version of the tale is
singularly bittersweet, funny, and empathetic. It's a rare thing to find a memoir of illness that can be described as cheerful, but
this one is that - and much more."
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"The Living End is terrific! I could not stop reading this
family journey of loss, hope and redemption. With humor and poignancy,
Robert Leleux does a magical job of capturing the beautiful and often complex relationship between grandparent and grandchild."
-- Michael Morris
Author of
Slow Way Home
Want to be one of the first on the block to read
The Living End?
Now available...
The Memoirs of
a Beautiful Boy
Now available in paperback!
