A Reckoning

This is a beautiful book. It is about the way a woman lives her dying and how she dies on her own terms. As she dies, she comes to grips with the loves and passions of her life, especially with women - her mother, sisters, daughter, and closest friend and love, Ella. It is about the communion of women and the potential for gentleness and sharing in this commun- ion

I just finished reading A Reckoning, which I discovered accidentally while reading another book, The Feminine Side of God. (May Sarton's book was mentioned.) What a joy to read/to discover her and her writing!!!! Sarton has tremendous insight, not only into women's inner thoughts/life, but into the mind and heart of a woman who has been told she does not have long to live. Her choice is to live in her dying. To her it is an unknown experience, similar to being born. No one knows what the journey will be like. It is a poignant experience the reader shares with the protagonist. On another level, a mother who reflects on her relationships with her grown children can relate perfectly. I intend to read her other novels, but for now I am recommending it to all my elderly women friends.

May Sarton has a way of explaining what life is all about through her fiction. When I read any of her work I make notations of sentences I want to refer to again after I am done reading the book. She has a powerful voice in her writing. A Reckoning is another one of my favorite books by this author.

Laura is dying of terminal cancer. From the moment her doctor tells her she has less than 2 years to live, Laura is determined so see her death as a journey, and she intends to make the journey on her own terms. She quickly realizes that she must come to some sort of "reckoning" with her past, her relationship with her mother, her relationship with her own children, and more curiously, her relationship with a childhood friend, Ella. Although she and Ella have not seen each other in over 40 years, memories of Ella haunt her, and fill her with a sense of peace. Laura is determined to die her way, with her animals, her memories, her thoughts, her music, her books, and a dear old aunt to read to her in the winter afternoons. These are what she believes to be the "real connections" in life. She does not want to engage in conversation with people who cause her stress (such as her sisters and her children). Laura learns during her journey, that it is through these last conversations and moments with the persons she least wanted to see, that she gains her most valuable insights. The book has a happy ending. But beware! Sarton's writing is witty, passionate and sophisticated. She uses her psychological knowledge of the human psyche with poignant accuracy.