Well, I wrote it, so I shan't be reviewing it! I admit, however, to feeling quite positive about it.

A few points that touched me:
Pie as their pet name for each other
Comparison of grief to prison
Maddie's play on words resulting in her pun "Dollars Taxes" ( )

Life's That Way is a beautiful and moving memoir by Jim Beaver, the talented actor who I came to know from the TV series Supernatural. His memoir is a heartbreaking, touching, but also uplifting recounting of his wife's battle with cancer and daughter's battle with autism. Told through the heart-wrenching emails Jim Beaver sent to their family and friends, he writes with a strength and beauty that astounded me. I couldn't stop reading. Jim Beaver is an extremely talented writer, whose story holds so many truths and lessons for its readers.

Sarah M. / Marathon County Public Library
Find this book in our library catalog.

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What a great book. It was moving and warm and tender and insightful. It helped me with my mother's passing. Once I started it I couldn't put it down. ( )

Intensely personal stories often illuminate universal truths. Jim writes: “I’ve attempted to flood the path with light where I could, and where I could not I’ve wanted at least to hold up a candle so that others coming this way might not stumble too painfully.” And indeed he has.

“I will bear this grief. I will endure it. I will reach a point where it doesn’t kick me down an abyss whenever I turn my back on it.”

As someone who still deals with the abyss of grief on a daily basis, I found this beautiful book wrenching and yet somehow hopeful as Jim Beaver weaves wisdom and humor into his story and their lives.

I recommend it highly, not only to those who have faced such grief but to anyone who someday might. Taking this journey with Jim, Cecily and their daughter Maddie has made me more acutely aware of the necessity for life beyond the grief. ( )