This Is the Life

Zusatztext “[A] deeply felt! often funny! heartbreaking book.” Informationen zum Autor Alex Shearer has written for television, radio, film, and the stage and is the author of many books for children, including The Speed of the Dark , which was shortlisted for the Guardian Children's Fiction Prize. He was born in Wick, in the north of Scotland, and now lives in Somerset. Klappentext American Library Association Notable Book In the spirit of #1 New York Times bestseller The Fault in Our Stars , a ?lovely, touching book? (Alexander McCall Smith) about two estranged brothers who come together when one of them discovers he has a brain tumor and the other emerges as his caretaker.This is the life: Not the one you thought you had yesterday. Or the one that might not be here tomorrow. Just this one. Here and now... This is the story of Louis, who never quite fit in, and of his younger brother, who always tried to tag along. As they got older, they grew apart. And as they got older still, one of them got cancer, and the other became his caretaker. Then they became close again, two brothers on one final journey together, wading through the stuff that's thicker than water. Told in anecdotes as his brother remembers them, we discover who this cranky, cancerous Louis once was. That before his brain surgery he had a mind that was said to be bigger than the rest of the family's put together, and that his heart was?and still is?just as big. That it's hard getting a haircut with a brain tumor, and that it does no good to help your brother memorize a PIN number when he might not be able to remember where the bank is. We learn along with these two brothers how the little stuff is as big as the big stuff, how tragedy and comedy go together, and how necessary it is that they do. Inspired by Shearer's experiences when his own brother was dying and written with a warm touch that is at once tender and achingly funny, This Is the Life is a moving testimony to both the resilience of the human spirit and the importance of the simpler things in life, like not taking a dying man's tea kettle away.This Is the Life 1 Haircut We walked in and the two Chinese girls who ran the place looked up and gave us a nod. They were both busy and neither of them seemed too pleased to see us. But Louis was oblivious to that, so we sat down anyway and waited our turn. Soon as we sat down, the two Chinese girls started working very slowly, as if there were a competition between them to be the last to finish. The prize for coming in first would be to have Louis as the next customer, and neither of them wanted that. So they both attended diligently to detail and went snip-snip-snipping with fine precision and they used plenty of combing and lots of changes of blade sizes and plenty of holding up of the mirror for a look at the back of the head. By this time Louis was all beard, moustache, straggly hair, and eyebrows. The eyebrows arched quizzically, or, if Louis had been fiddling with them, which he did, they pointed up like small devil’s horns. I didn’t think he had had a shave or haircut in six months, maybe longer. Nor had he trimmed his beard in any way. He looked like a wild man, like one of those homeless people you feel part sorry for, part afraid of, and part repelled by. The remains of some ancient dinners were hiding in the moustache. No wonder the Chinese girls were working slowly. If I’d been a Chinese girl, I’d have worked slowly too, or have closed the place early, or simply have said no and pointed at the door. But they were too polite, or kind, or resigned, or simply didn’t want to lose the business. Fin...

A propos de l'auteur

Alex Shearer has written for television, radio, film, and the stage and is the author of many books for children, including The Speed of the Dark, which was shortlisted for the Guardian Children’s Fiction Prize. He was born in Wick, in the north of Scotland, and now lives in Somerset.

Détails du produit

• Auteurs: Alex Shearer
• Edition: Pocket Books USA
• Langues: Anglais
• Format d'édition: Livre de poche
• Sortie: 03.02.2015, retardé
• EAN: 9781476764405
• ISBN: 978-1-4767-6440-5
• Pages: 240
• Catégorie: Littérature > Littérature (récits)