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A Novel
by Deborah Carol GangDavid and Kate are happily married fifty-somethings when she's diagnosed with early Alzheimer's. He has never been unfaithful, but after several years of losing Kate more each day, he wonders: What is a married widower supposed to do? Two strong-willed women intervene and everyone finds themselves making unexpected choices.
Can any marriage withstand the transformation of one partner into someone who's lost? When does a marriage end? The Half-Life of Everything, realistic in every detail except for one speculative twist, places David in the unwelcome situation of loving two women. Must he be the good and faithful husband he's always been, or is he deserving of a second chance? The novel is a modern study of marriage and love––and of friendship, the overlooked foundation of both romantic and everyday life.
Deborah Carol Gang's beautifully written, humorous, and ultimately uplifting debut novel will remind readers of Anne Tyler's lyrical and slightly off-kilter fiction. Tyler herself, who steadfastly continues an anti-blurb campaign, wrote the author "to tell you directly how much I enjoyed The Half-Life of Everything."
3
Part I
BEFORE
Kate had read or heard somewhere that normal forgetfulness is misplacing your keys, while Alzheimer's is not knowing what keys are used for. Surely, she thought, there was a middle ground between the two - like when you locate your keys but, for the briefest part of a second, you think, Are these really mine? They look familiar … and yet they don't.
Like anyone who was fifty-one, Kate worried about her memory, though her true specialty was dreading disease. In temperament, she wasn't particularly neurotic, but breast cancer had a hold on her. The disease was so common she had begun to think of it as a normal stage of life, like acne or menopause. And for as long as she could remember, she had paid attention to the risk factors. She had barely adjusted to the trauma of getting her period too young when she learned it was associated with breast cancer. Jewish grandparents from Eastern Europe - also very bad. Delayed childbearing - sensible but also very bad.
"Moist...
Here are some of the comments posted about The Half-Life of Everything.
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A Q&A with Deborah Carol Gang
The scenes between David and his friend, Ian, were a challenge because I was writing dialogue between two men whose private conversations are not witnessed by others who could help things along. I liked the challenge of creating Ian with a minimal of... - davinamw
David and Kate are forced to lie to many people with whom they have been close for the greater good of the drug trial. Do you think you would be able to lie to those you care about if you knew that it was the right thing to do?
It actually didn't really seem like much of a lie to me, just withholding a bit of truth, as Rebeccar said. If not telling anyone about the drug study is a condition for participation, then you do what you have to do. I wouldn't have a problem with ... - kdowney25
David is involved with two women at once
Leah, I disagree that no one made a definitive choice. They all three made the choice to be together in an unconventional relationship. It seemed to me that the women were more comfortable with it than David, however. He offered, on more than one ... - kdowney25
Did the friendship between Kate and Jane surprise you? Do you think you could be friends with someone that your significant other was with?
I wasn't at all surprised that Kate and Jane became friends. David thought they would have liked each other, even before the possibility that Kate might return from her illness. - kdowney25
Did you find yourself rooting for David to choose either Kate or Jane? Were you surprised to see their relationship work right through to the end of the book?
Bothnwoman were certainly open to the arrangement and probably for different reasons. I think Kate may have thought it would eventually end for medical reasons and Jane had certainly had an unpleasant marriage. Both women wanted a more perfect “... - Peggy H
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Winner of the 2022 BookBrowse Nonfiction Award
This powerful memoir by New York Times bestselling author Amy Bloom is an illuminating story of two people whose love and shared life experiences led them to find a courageous way to part - and of a woman's struggle to go forward in the face of loss.
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There are two kinds of people in the world: those who divide the world into two kinds of people, and those who don'...
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