Mastics-Moriches-Shirley Community Library Reader Advisory Blog: The Way Back: Book to Movie Alert

Today is the release date for the new movie The Way Back, directed by Peter Weir. Colin Farrel, Ed Harris, Saoirse Ronan, and Jim Sturgess play escaped prisoners of war who undertake a perilous journey to freedom from Siberia to India. The movie is based on the 1997 book The Long Walk: The True Story of the Trek to Freedom by Slavomir Rawicz. The factuality of certain events in the book has been disputed, but both book and movie provide quite a dramatic story.

For more books about World War II-era prisoners of war, try Unbroken: A World War II Story of Survival, Resilience, and Redemption by Laura Hillenbrand (nonfiction; not for the squeamish), Given Up For Dead: American GIs in the Nazi Concentration Camp at Berga by Flint Whitlock (nonfiction), or The Welsh Girl by Peter Ho Davies (fiction).

Being Mortal by Atul Gawande

Genre: Adult Non-Fiction
Rating: 5 out of 5

"Being Mortal is about the limitations of what modern medicine can provide for people as their lives draw to a close. Gawande argues that the objective of medicine should not merely be treatment and survival; medical care should also ensure dignity in death and having control over one's final moments. He argues that instead of aggressively fighting the inescapable realities of aging, we should ask the hard questions of ourselves and our loved ones -- What makes life worth living? When should we try to extend our lives, and when should we choose a better quality of our remaining days over extending their quantity?

This book is difficult to read. Not because of the way Gawande writes -- his style is highly engaging, and he never lapses into excessively scientific jargon or overly simplistic explanations -- but because of the tough subject matter. Gawande draws on his own experiences as a doctor and peppers his book with honest and humane stories of his patients, friends, and family; the stories he tells make the book more accessible, and also more heartbreaking. (And that's not a bad thing.)

No one likes to think about their loved ones', or their own, impending mortality. But it's important to have these hard conversations, because as Gawande says, "endings matter." - Amanda

The Way Back: Book to Movie Alert

No comments:

Post a Comment