All of This: A Memoir of Death and Desire

Blogger and essayist Woolf (Rockabye: From Wild to Child) bares her soul in this memoir of her tumultuous marriage and her husband’s early death. Woolf spares no one’s feelings, least of all her own, in her efforts to examine the four months between her husband’s pancreatic cancer diagnosis and his death, through the lens of their often-unhappy marriage and its impact on their four young children. She is unflinching in her narration as well, moving freely between wry humor, a more reserved factualness, and raw-throated emotion. The second part of the memoir, chronicling Woolf’s first days, weeks, and months as a widow, is an emotionally complex mix of grief and catharsis. Woolf’s writing and narration, while admirably honest, are sometimes confusingly metaphoric. Listeners may struggle to follow the thread of her reflections, while respecting her willingness to express what many feel too conflicted or ashamed to take on.