Unforgettable Encounters During Life's Final Moments
Ratings11
Average rating3.9
NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER • Passionate advocate for end-of-life care and TikTok star Hadley Vlahos shares moving stories of joy, wisdom, and redemption from her patients’ final moments in this “brilliant” (Zibby Owens, Good Morning America) memoir. “This extraordinary book helps dispel fear around death and dying—revealing it to be a natural part of our soul’s evolution.”—Laura Lynne Jackson, New York Times bestselling author of Signs and The Light Between Us Talking about death and dying is considered taboo in polite company, and even in the medical field. Our ideas about dying are confusing at best: Will our memories flash before our eyes? Regrets consume our thoughts? Does a bright light appear at the end of a tunnel? For most people, it will be a slower process, one eased with preparedness, good humor, and a bit of faith. At the forefront of changing attitudes around palliative care is hospice nurse Hadley Vlahos, who shows that end-of-life care can teach us just as much about how to live as it does about how we die. Vlahos was raised in a strict religious household, but began questioning her beliefs in high school after the sudden death of a friend. When she got pregnant at nineteen, she was shunned by her community and enrolled herself in nursing school to be able to support herself and her baby. But nursing soon became more than a job: when she focused on palliative care and hospice work, it became a calling. In The In-Between, Vlahos recounts the most impactful experiences she’s had with the people she’s worked with—from the woman who never once questioned her faith until she was close to death, to the older man seeing visions of his late daughter, to the young patient who laments that she spent too much of her short life worrying about what others thought of her—while also sharing her own fascinating journey. Written with profound insight, humility, and respect, The In-Between is a heartrending memoir that shows how caring for others can transform a life while also offering wisdom and comfort for those dealing with loss and providing inspiration for how to live now.
Reviews with the most likes.
Growing curious about the process of dying, what happens, what's normal and what to expect I also wanted to know more about hospice care as I think it's such a valuable service. This book gave me a lot of stories and answers and also inspired me to read further.
Overall, I think this book is worth reading. It helps to demystify the "process" of dying and helps readers to understand that there are some aspects of dying that seem unusual, but are actually very common. I appreciate the messaging that everyone grieves differently, but from a technical aspect I think the book needs some editing.
If I could make a big change to this book, I would have recommended this book to be about Hadley, but not written by Hadley. There are a lot sections that just come across as Hadley patting herself on the back: Oh, Hadley, you're the only nurse that makes me smile and treats me right... and while it all might be true it just doesn't feel that way sometimes. I would have preferred to see Hadley's work approached more from a journalistic standpoint, with someone observing Hadley and talking to her patients. Obviously stories from her previous work deserve to be in the book, but it needs something to anchor it to the truth.
I do think Hadley is doing a great job of talking to the public about hospice. Her writing makes it seem less scary and depressing. Ideally dying is a peaceful process and hospice nurses, doctors, and workers are responsible for ensuring that. Highly recommend for a book club as I think everyone has a story about death they want to talk about, but don't have the appropriate venue.
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77 booksLooking for all sorts of themes, but focused on books praised by the quality of narration as well as content