The Second Bookend

by Susan S. Jorgensen

A guide for the dying, and for their families and friends, to approach the final bookend of their lives from a place of love rather than fear. From renowned spiritual director Susan Jorgensen, a life-giving dialogue about death as an experience both necessary and natural. Written as the author completed her own journey toward death, it's woven with honesty, compassion, humor, and a deep spirituality that embraces all faith traditions.

"Jorgensen's experience of living while dying challenges us to respond more deeply to mysterious and beautiful questions. Quietly overwhelmed by her raw spiritual honesty, one feels at once an intruder and a welcome guest. Only later do we realize that we've met God in a new and yet unsurprising place." --Mark Mossa, S.J., author of Already Letting God Find You

"With fierce tenderness and riveting honesty, Susan challenges us to re-imagine our death as necessary and natural. An intense personal narrative of the dying process." --Mary C. Earle, author of Julian of Selections from Revelations of Divine Love

"Boldly and frankly engages the sacred topic of death, teaching us to truly listen and reminding us that love, at the heart of grief, is stronger than death." --Josephine Hicks, author of If There's Anything I Can What You Can Do When Serious Illness Strikes

"Jorgensen's final work is a graceful invitation to embrace life and all that comes with it. I found myself touched and challenged and thoroughly entranced.\" --C. K. Robertson, Canon to the Presiding Bishop of the Episcopal Church and author of Barnabas vs To Encourage or Confront

"The most unflinching look at death I've ever read. Jorgensen stares it all in the face--raw emotion, spiritual awakenings, and physical hurdles--and allows us to peek through the portal of this experience common to all." --Linda Douty, author of Rhythms of 365 Meditations to Nurture the Soul

254 pages, Paperback

Published November 1, 2016

Reviews

[Samuel · Rating 3 out of 5]

I didn't find this book as helpful as others on the topic. There are some very engaging truths that come through her recount of her experience, but the scheme she used to symbolize her understanding was not meaningful for me.

[Janet · Rating 5 out of 5]

Full disclosure: the author was a friend of mine. She died almost two years ago, and this was the book she was working on and finished before she died. It is a book about the act of leaving, dying. It is about how difficult it is to leave others behind, but death is not bad in itself. It is part of living. Susie does her best to explain the physical and spiritual issues about death. Susie was diagnosed with Stage 4 lung cancer with no hope of remission. She chose to die naturally. She did, yet her friends still miss her a great deal. Today I saw the play Relativity with Richard Dreyfus in Hartford. I wanted to talk to her about how in this play art, science, and religion come together. She would have enjoyed this play as I loved hearing her voice again in this book, even though there were some difficult moments. There are so many places which I would love to mark and then discuss with her. Alas, it cannot be done, so I urge you to read the book and discuss with me! Don't forget to read the foreward and afterward written by her husband, Rob Jorgensen. Beautiful!