Welcome to Litsy!

Sarah Pinborough‘s horror novella is an unflinching look at the emotional and physical mechanics of dying, tied in with the drama of a broken family and adding a dark fantasy element. It‘s a moving read that‘s tightly written, filled with sadness while the main character is neither saint nor sinner, aware of her own faults as much as those of her siblings and father and although I predicted the ending that didn‘t lessen its impact.

I was so excited to read this! It had been hyped up in almost every book forum I follow, but I was left wanting. Many times the book goes off on irrelevant little tangents and there's an odd supernatural aspect I couldn't get behind. Some of it was very touching, but for the most part I feel this book did not live up to its reputation. 🤷 I expected deep introspection, but got irritating family drama instead... Hmm.

This is a weighty novella dealing with more than just a father in the final days dying of terminal cancer. Themes of despair, misery, and human, particularly family, relationships are explored and how people deal with loss differently from one another. The flow of the writing is effortless & moody. The story is told beautifully but brutal & frank. An emotional & heartbreaking read, with an element of fantasy reminiscent of Gaiman‘s work.Beautiful.

“There is a language to dying. It creeps like a shadow alongside the passing years and the taste of it hides in the corners of our mouths. It finds us whether we are sick or healthy. It is a secret hushed thing that lives in the whisper of the nurses‘ skirts as they rustle up and down our stairs. They‘ve taught me to face the language one syllable at a time, slowly creating an unwilling meaning.”
What beautiful writing.The opening para of the book

Finally getting around to this one.

This was the winner! I‘m taking an End of Life Care CME course and I thought this would go along nicely. Also short, so likely easier to focus on right now. #immorbid #doclife #pallimed

I was expecting a book and got a care package instead. Thank you, @Cinfhen ! ❤️ Also, my World Literature students were impressed that I receive mail from Israel.

This slim novel is an intimate portrait of siblings coming together to say goodbye to a parent in their final hours of life. It's raw & painful but so honest & sincere. The author manages a lot of story & emotions in under 150 pages. Thank you to my #ssgp @scripturient for this gorgeous book & @Kalalalatja for first bringing it to my attention.

There is a language to dying. It creeps like a shadow alongside the passing years and the taste of it hides in the corners of our mouths.

When I hear other people say they have unusual families, I smile. Our family has so much color that the brightness is damaging.

This quote about #death or dying is both very dark, but also kind of beautiful.

#Quotsy #QuotsyNov17

I bought this book entirely based on the title and cover so I had no idea what it was about. I liked it though. It's sad and brutal and reminds me of a show on Netflix about people dying of cancer. It also reminds me of this one artist who did a photo exhibition on death saying that people don't know the signs of imminent death anymore, because we distance ourselves from it. Just like the narrator, but she speaks of the language of dying.

I'm enjoying Pinsborough's book so far, and in the introduction it says that she has written a number of horror books. Has anyone read any of them? Opinions?

After a very boozy weekend and a rough (but awesome) CrossFit workout I feel like I need to indulge in a somewhat easier book than Walden, Secondhand Time and Das Lächeln der Fortuna, so I'm diving into this one now.

I always find books about grief and death to be really powerful and #brave. It is such a hard topic to tackle and it can easily be done in a bad and cliché-ish way, but these books dealt with these themes in a great and very creative way ?

#AugustGrrrl

This book took me a bit by surprise. I hadn't expected to like it as much as I did! In only 130 pages Pinborough tells a story about love and loss, the dying and the living, a story about all that life is with all the pain, all the difficulties. It is a story about falling a part and picking yourself up again, any way you can.

This was so intriguing, but I just felt like it was kind of floundering in the middle. I loved the characters and writing

Catching up my Litsy on some books I've been reading since December: My cousin sent me this book for my birthday and I read it in under a week. It's an introspective, breathless tale abt grief and the process of dying. As siblings come to say goodbye to their father, cracks begin to show in the family and in the narration, and the story becomes about creativity locked inside walls and the dissolution of boundaries between patient and caregiver.

Hi all yesterday was 'Reviewthurdays" on my channel and I created what ended up being a somewhat emotion review of this "The Language of Dying" by Sarah Pinborough.

#booktuber #booktube #reviewthursdays #whatannareads #languageofdying #sarapinborough #magicalrealism #cotemporary

A amazing read it's been on my shelf for a while but the subject matter is too close to home 🏡 for a while. It's is eloquently written, pure raw emotion and doesn't glamorise the pain of watching some deteriorate to a terminal illness. It's a book that makes you think and feel and cry.

#thelanguageofdying #terminalillness #sarahpinborough #litsyreviews

I don't think this book needs anything to dress it up. This is a beautifully honest and poignant account of a daughter watching her father in the grips of cancer in the final hours of his life. This is my read this afternoon.

#afternoonreads #languageofdying #sarahpinborough #terminal

5/5 STARS. I couldn't find something wrong with this book if I tried. It's not a happy book, but it's an honest look into a slightly dysfunctional family coping (or not coping) with the death of their father, told from the POV of the middle child. It's very introspective and describes so many ways people deal with grief, and what happens when the family glue is no longer there to keep them together.

Wow! Just wow! I absolutely loved it. This short book is sad, heart-wrenching and also a bit creepy. Highly recommended!!!

I admit that this is was total cover buy. But isn't it soooo pretty?

Meet my two companions for tonight. Aren't they gorgeous? 😍

A broken family reunites for the final days of their father's life. There is no graphic detail but there are a lot of potential triggers in this short book, nevertheless it's beautifully understated and keenly felt.

Total cover buy. But LOOK AT IT

A beautifully written story, able to be read in one sitting but it'll stay with you for a very long time. 🌟🌟🌟🌟4 Stars

Having lost my father just a few years ago, I don't know why I would request this book about a woman and her dying father. Still, those two sentences are just perfect, how it really is.

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ A woman sits at her dying father's bedside & reflects on the past. Only 144 pages, but packs a strong emotional punch. It's filled with beautifully written passages. I loved the complicated relationships between the narrator & her three siblings. There's a small amount of fantasy, but it's seamlessly integrated. It has the Neil Gaiman seal of approval on cover! 👍🏻 Might be of interest to Gaiman fans or adult readers of A Monster Calls.

This book is going to crush me.

In today's mail: although it's been only a year since I sat at my own father's bedside in the last days of his life, I think I'm ready to read this slim novel of siblings sitting their own vigil.