Hope: A Loss Survived

by Richard Meryman

Meryman shares the heart-wringing story of his wife Hope's heroic struggle against cancer and the tender love and joy that broke through the painful family ordeal of coping with suffering and death

Genres: Nonfiction

246 pages, Hardcover

First published September 1, 1980

Reviews

[Disco Earl · Rating 3 out of 5]

Dick Meryman's book about the illness and death of his first wife Hope and the mourning and recovery that followed for him and their two daughters is so sad it is difficult to read. The quality of his writing and the honesty he brings to his storytelling carries you along, however. I found his admission of his own selfish and unflattering thoughts and feelings through the long process -- including at the moment he first examined a suspicious mole on Hope's back -- astonishing. This is not just a tribute to a woman he loved and admired, you are getting the whole picture.

Meryman was a reporter for Life magazine. His specialty was interviewing celebrities and famous people at great length and then writing concise first-person statements in the voice of the subject. His biography of Andrew Wyeth, whom he interviewed many times and with whom he formed a long friendship, is terrific.

[Martha Barragan Alvarez · Rating 4 out of 5]

It must be really hard to deal with this type of illnesses, but we always think only in the sick person, it's hard to think how their immediate family are dealing with sickness. Through this story we can see both sufferings and sometimes it's difficult to know which person is the real victim.
Great story seeing it from different angles gives the exact idea how really difficult and sad sickness is.

[Diane Wachter · Rating 3 out of 5]

RDC-M V 1 1981, 9/87. Hope: A Loss Survived, by Richard Meryman. Novel. Okay.

[Linda · Rating 5 out of 5]

Richard lost his wife, Hope, when she was only 44.