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Resilience: Reflections on the Burdens and Gifts of Facing Life's Adversities
The best-selling author of Saving Graces shares her inspirational message on the challenges and blessings of coping with adversity.
She's one of the most beloved political figures in the country, and on the surface, seems to have led a charmed life. In many ways, she has. Beautiful family. Thriving career. Supportive friendship. Loving marriage. But she's no stranger to adversity. Many know of the strength she had shown after her son, Wade, was killed in a freak car accident when he was only 16 years old. She would exhibit this remarkable grace and courage again when the very private matter of her husband's infidelity became public fodder. And her own life has been on the line. Days before the 2004 presidential election - when her husband John was running for vice president - she was diagnosed with breast cancer. After rounds of surgery, chemotherapy, and radiation the cancer went away - only to reoccur in 2007.
While on the campaign trail, Elizabeth met many others who have had to contend with serious adversity in their lives, and in Resilience, she draws on their experiences as well as her own, crafting an unsentimental and ultimately inspirational meditation on the gifts we can find among life's biggest challenges. This short, powerful, inspirational audiobook makes an ideal gift for anyone dealing with difficulties in their life, who can find peace in knowing they are not alone, and promise that things can get better.
She's one of the most beloved political figures in the country, and on the surface, seems to have led a charmed life. In many ways, she has. Beautiful family. Thriving career. Supportive friendship. Loving marriage. But she's no stranger to adversity. Many know of the strength she had shown after her son, Wade, was killed in a freak car accident when he was only 16 years old. She would exhibit this remarkable grace and courage again when the very private matter of her husband's infidelity became public fodder. And her own life has been on the line. Days before the 2004 presidential election - when her husband John was running for vice president - she was diagnosed with breast cancer. After rounds of surgery, chemotherapy, and radiation the cancer went away - only to reoccur in 2007.
While on the campaign trail, Elizabeth met many others who have had to contend with serious adversity in their lives, and in Resilience, she draws on their experiences as well as her own, crafting an unsentimental and ultimately inspirational meditation on the gifts we can find among life's biggest challenges. This short, powerful, inspirational audiobook makes an ideal gift for anyone dealing with difficulties in their life, who can find peace in knowing they are not alone, and promise that things can get better.
Paperback
Published January 1, 2010
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Displaying 1 - 2 of 2 reviews
September 9, 2024
This book has found a special place in my heart and mind, one that I feel will linger for a long time to come. Recently, thoughts of Elizabeth bubbled up in me again after I came across a TikTok video detailing the challenges she faced in her marriage and with her health post-breast cancer diagnosis. It took me back to when I first heard about her husband John's betrayal and their love child while she was navigating cancer treatment and raising young kids. I recall feeling so indignant on Elizabeth's behalf—she was dealing with so much stress, public embarrassment on top of battling cancer.
Published a year before her too-soon departure from this world, this book captivated my attention from the very first to the very last page. Her writing mesmerized me; it was raw, thoughtful, meticulously balanced, heartrending, yet introspective. Through this book, I came to learn about the tragic loss of her firstborn at 16, a fact I hadn't been aware of in my younger years. She was grappling with the immense sorrow of losing a child, her own grim diagnosis, and the fallout from her husband's affair. Hearing Elizabeth narrate her own story added an extra layer of depth and humanity, allowing me, as the reader, to truly grasp her emotions.
The book gracefully covers her mourning of her father, her son, the betrayal by her husband, and the shattering of her envisioned future. She opens up about resilience, about somehow finding the ability to rise above the harsh blows life had dealt her. My heart is heavy with sadness knowing she couldn't stay longer to see her children grow, become a grandmother, and continue to inspire future generations of women. Elizabeth's fondness for 1940s music, which I share, made the ending of the book with a big band tune from that era all the more touching and poignant.
Published a year before her too-soon departure from this world, this book captivated my attention from the very first to the very last page. Her writing mesmerized me; it was raw, thoughtful, meticulously balanced, heartrending, yet introspective. Through this book, I came to learn about the tragic loss of her firstborn at 16, a fact I hadn't been aware of in my younger years. She was grappling with the immense sorrow of losing a child, her own grim diagnosis, and the fallout from her husband's affair. Hearing Elizabeth narrate her own story added an extra layer of depth and humanity, allowing me, as the reader, to truly grasp her emotions.
The book gracefully covers her mourning of her father, her son, the betrayal by her husband, and the shattering of her envisioned future. She opens up about resilience, about somehow finding the ability to rise above the harsh blows life had dealt her. My heart is heavy with sadness knowing she couldn't stay longer to see her children grow, become a grandmother, and continue to inspire future generations of women. Elizabeth's fondness for 1940s music, which I share, made the ending of the book with a big band tune from that era all the more touching and poignant.
September 20, 2026
She shares honestly and in beautiful prose. If she had lived longer, I would hope she would have taken up writing as a craft. She weathered many traumas, finally succumbing to implacable cancer. But along the way, she learned to “adjust her sails” and live life as fully as possible. I hope I can be like her as I continue to face my own life challenges.
Displaying 1 - 2 of 2 reviews