Skip to main content

Lionel Shriver: ‘A chosen death is an authorial act – I’ve never cared for stories that end on ellipses’

The author’s new novel centres around an elderly couple bound in a suicide pact. Watching her parents age, the subject of dying with dignity is never far from her mind

For those of us with elderly parents, countless news broadcasts of bewildered residents cruelly exiled in care homes during this pandemic have been especially raw. Even so, I can’t be the only one who’s thought reflexively: “That will never be me.”

My friend Jolanta in Brooklyn has made that vow official. Put through quite the medical ringer herself, she tended to a difficult mother through a drawn-out decline. Not long ago, she declared to me fiercely that she’d no interest in living beyond the age of 80. Dead smart and not given to whimsy, Jolanta was already about 60, the very point at which old age starts to seem like something that might actually happen. I couldn’t help but wonder, should she indeed turn 80, will she take matters into her own hands – or not?

Continue reading...

from The Guardian https://ift.tt/3i77kcO
Labels:

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

England booed off after failing against Iceland once more in Euros warm-up

It was a long way from being the triumphant Euro 2024 send-off for Gareth Southgate and his England players at a sold-out and increasingly fretful Wembley. Never mind the result because it was not the main thing, however much it stirred memories of you-know-when against Iceland. It was the performance that raised the difficult questions, the worst one for quite some time and at exactly the wrong time. The home fans, thousands of whom made for the exits before the end, were forced to watch the second half – from about minute 55 onwards – through the gaps between their fingers. And it had not been great before that. Continue reading... from The Guardian https://ift.tt/4ndfQL0
Post a Comment
Read more

Covid-19 cases in England 'must fall to ease NHS pressure'

Imperial College study notes decline in week to 22 January but fall is slower than in first national lockdown Coronavirus – latest updates See all our coronavirus coverage Cases of coronavirus have started to decline in England but must fall faster to relieve pressure on the NHS, scientists behind a Covid infection survey have warned. Researchers at Imperial College London analysed more than 160,000 swabs taken between 6 and 22 January and found that while cases fell nationally in the past week the rate was not dropping swiftly enough to reduce strain on the health service. Continue reading... from The Guardian https://ift.tt/36ggn4E
Post a Comment
Read more

Trump to campaign in 4 states - including in Biden's hometown - during week of Democratic National Convention

Trump plans to hold a series of events next week in Pennsylvania, Wisconsin, Minnesota and Arizona as Democrats nominate Joe Biden for president.             from USATODAY - News Top Stories https://ift.tt/3al6qn7
Post a Comment
Read more