Noe

Written with clarity and grace, this memoir of an adolescent boy's four-year struggle with leukaemia, his untimely death at 16, and the aftermath is presented from three perspectives. Using journals and recollection, Noe's father Phil Wolfson recalls the events chronologically.

About the Author :
Phil Wolfson, MD, practices psychiatry/psychotherapy in the San Francisco Bay Area.

Review :
"From the time I started to read this book, I wanted to write about it. I made notes all over the margins with what I hoped would be useful things to say. Now that I am writing, I feel that I will never be able to do justice to this remarkable book. I will try, in the hope that many other people will discover it and experience its gritty, deeply felt, and hard-won wisdom. Phil Wolfson's "Noe "describes the experience of a family facing the serious illness and eventual death of Noah, their sixteen-year-old son. The book is woven from a rich tapestry of voices, from the author's journals, Noah's chemotherapy diaries, and the convincingly channeled voice of the boy who has died... Life is the hero celebrated in this book, an experience of inherent value whose meaning is sufficient onto itself, requiring no metaphysical gloss, no transcendent striving. We experience Noah struggling heroically to fight the illness and assert his claim to life, pushing himself into breathtaking feats of physical prowess before the relapse occurs, the treatment begins again and he has to struggle back through the overwhelming exhaustion and depletion of the radiation. This is the life force speaking for itself, refusing to surrender until the last possibility of struggle has been exhausted. There is an epic quality to this fight against all odds, on the boy's part and that of his family; it is the kind of epic that arises from ordinary life pushed to its extremes while remaining recognizably human." --"Tikkun Magazine" "There is no doubt Phil Wolfson's poignant and thoughtful "Noe" will break your heart. There is also no question "Noe" will strengthen your heart, as well as deepen your sensitivity and widen your range of emotions. A seasoned psychiatrist, Wolfson shares, through unbroken honesty and thoughtful prose, the toughest story a parent could tell. Yet out of the depths of his family's tragedy, Wolfson enriches our emotional knowledge, better equipping us for the blows, s "There is no doubt Phil Wolfson's poignant and thoughtful "Noe" will break your heart. There is also no question "Noe" will strengthen your heart, as well as deepen your sensitivity and widen your range of emotions. A seasoned psychiatrist, Wolfson shares, through unbroken honesty and thoughtful prose, the toughest story a parent could tell. Yet out of the depths of his family's tragedy, Wolfson enriches our emotional knowledge, better equipping us for the blows, large and small, sure to befall us all." --Franz Wisner, author of the New York Times best-selling "Honeymoon with My Brother" and "How the World Makes Love" "A sensitive chronicle of the vagaries of love and the struggle to stay clear and present despite great stress and difficulty. Noe can serve as a guide to those who are living through overwhelming personal crises, facing their own or a beloved's death. It charts the possibilities for coming apart, staying together, and the choices that will have to be made dur