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Death Be Not Proud
Death Be Not Proud chronicles Johnny Gunther's gallant struggle against the malignant brain tumor that killed him at the age of seventeen. The book opens with his father's fond, vivid portrait of his son—a young man of extraordinary intellectual promise, who excelled at physics, math, and chess, but was also an active, good-hearted, and fun-loving kid. But the heart of the book is a description of the agonized months during which Gunther and his former wife Frances try everything in their power to halt the spread of Johnny's cancer and to make him as happy and comfortable as possible. In the last months of his life, Johnny strove hard to complete his high school studies. The scene of his graduation ceremony from Deerfield Academy is one of the most powerful—and heartbreaking—in the entire book. Johnny maintained his courage, wit and quiet friendliness up to the end of his life. He died on June 30, 1947, less than a month after graduating from Deerfield.
206 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 1949
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9855 people want to read
About the author
John Gunther
91 books575 followersJohn Gunther was one of the best known and most admired journalists of his day, and his series of "Inside" books, starting with Inside Europe in 1936, were immensely popular profiles of the major world powers. One critic noted that it was Gunther's special gift to "unite the best qualities of the newspaperman and the historian." It was a gift that readers responded to enthusiastically. The "Inside" books sold 3,500,000 copies over a period of thirty years.
While publicly a bon vivant and modest celebrity, Gunther in his private life suffered disappointment and tragedy. He and Frances Fineman, whom he married in 1927, had a daughter who died four months after her birth in 1929. The Gunthers divorced in 1944. In 1947, their beloved son Johnny died after a long, heartbreaking fight with brain cancer. Gunther wrote his classic memoir Death Be Not Proud, published in 1949, to commemorate the courage and spirit of this extraordinary boy. Gunther remarried in 1948, and he and his second wife, Jane Perry Vandercook, adopted a son.
While publicly a bon vivant and modest celebrity, Gunther in his private life suffered disappointment and tragedy. He and Frances Fineman, whom he married in 1927, had a daughter who died four months after her birth in 1929. The Gunthers divorced in 1944. In 1947, their beloved son Johnny died after a long, heartbreaking fight with brain cancer. Gunther wrote his classic memoir Death Be Not Proud, published in 1949, to commemorate the courage and spirit of this extraordinary boy. Gunther remarried in 1948, and he and his second wife, Jane Perry Vandercook, adopted a son.
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December 31, 2017
This book is featured on Shabby Sunday @ https://readrantrockandroll.com/2017/...
This isn’t a book I normally pick up, but I purchased it in a box of books from a church sale years ago, and after going through some of these books recently, it caught my attention. I love reading memoirs, but not so much when it’s a story about a child with cancer. I took a chance and continued reading because I’d already read the blurb and knew what to expect. If you plan to read this book, you may want to skip my review altogether. The edition I'm reviewing is from 1965.
In the beginning of the book, John Gunther writes about his son Johnny and describes him as a happy child who loves to spend time with his parents when he’s not in school. Not only is he a happy and active child, but he’s extremely intelligent and loves school. When he returns home in 1946 for a break, he begins to have some strange symptoms and eventually is diagnosed with a brain tumor. Of course, this was back in a day before there were better treatments for cancer like there are now, and some of the treatments that Johnny undertakes are unorthodox. In fact, this is the first book I’ve read that documents a patient’s story after attempting Dr. Gerson’s methods for battling cancer.
The book is written in two parts. In the first part, the reader learns about Johnny, his diagnosis and some of his treatments. This was definitely a difficult part for me to finish. It’s heart-wrenching, but Johnny was so strong. His parents are with him constantly and move mountains to find him the best treatments possible. They continually search for a cure.
The second part contains a short diary that Johnny wrote and also letters, many from before his diagnosis. I would’ve liked to read the letters from before his diagnosis first, before reading Part 1, but this isn’t the way the book is organized. The final pages in the book contain a note from Johnny’s mother, Frances. In the note, she discusses the many questions you ask with the impending death of a child and there’s a statement that we all hear too often. A statement that reminds us we are never guaranteed any exact measure of time.
“Yet at the end of them all, when one has put away all the books, and all the words, when one is alone with oneself, when one is alone with God, what is left in one’s heart? Just this: I wish we had loved Johnny more.”
Overall, even with all the agonizing parts of the story, I’m glad I finished the book. In my opinion, it’s written very well. I’d recommend it to anyone who likes to read memoirs.
4****
This isn’t a book I normally pick up, but I purchased it in a box of books from a church sale years ago, and after going through some of these books recently, it caught my attention. I love reading memoirs, but not so much when it’s a story about a child with cancer. I took a chance and continued reading because I’d already read the blurb and knew what to expect. If you plan to read this book, you may want to skip my review altogether. The edition I'm reviewing is from 1965.
In the beginning of the book, John Gunther writes about his son Johnny and describes him as a happy child who loves to spend time with his parents when he’s not in school. Not only is he a happy and active child, but he’s extremely intelligent and loves school. When he returns home in 1946 for a break, he begins to have some strange symptoms and eventually is diagnosed with a brain tumor. Of course, this was back in a day before there were better treatments for cancer like there are now, and some of the treatments that Johnny undertakes are unorthodox. In fact, this is the first book I’ve read that documents a patient’s story after attempting Dr. Gerson’s methods for battling cancer.
The book is written in two parts. In the first part, the reader learns about Johnny, his diagnosis and some of his treatments. This was definitely a difficult part for me to finish. It’s heart-wrenching, but Johnny was so strong. His parents are with him constantly and move mountains to find him the best treatments possible. They continually search for a cure.
The second part contains a short diary that Johnny wrote and also letters, many from before his diagnosis. I would’ve liked to read the letters from before his diagnosis first, before reading Part 1, but this isn’t the way the book is organized. The final pages in the book contain a note from Johnny’s mother, Frances. In the note, she discusses the many questions you ask with the impending death of a child and there’s a statement that we all hear too often. A statement that reminds us we are never guaranteed any exact measure of time.
“Yet at the end of them all, when one has put away all the books, and all the words, when one is alone with oneself, when one is alone with God, what is left in one’s heart? Just this: I wish we had loved Johnny more.”
Overall, even with all the agonizing parts of the story, I’m glad I finished the book. In my opinion, it’s written very well. I’d recommend it to anyone who likes to read memoirs.
4****
December 18, 2019
Someone (okay, mt therapist) suggested I reread this. Was he comparing my MS to a grapefruit-sized brain tumor? Why is it that everyone who has a real medical issue wants to believe it's psychosomatic and everyone with a psychosomatic condition wants it to be real?
My new take on the book, after fourteen years passing since I first read it:
Tonight, I read someone’s review of “Death Be Not Proud” on Goodreads.com, a great review for a classic book, but for some misguided search for understanding I sent this message to the reviewer:
“I, too, cried when I first read this book and I’m sure I’ll cry again when I read it this weekend, as I plan to. But I wonder how much my intervening years will change my perspective on the truth of the portrait. Certainly the boy was a gifted and courageous human being and his father loved him as any parent would. But had he survived and remained disabled, would his father’s love have shown a different form: frustration that his son was now pursuing goals that didn’t match his father’s expectations of brilliance and success; anger that his son couldn’t work full-time like his healthy classmates and earn as many bragging rights as they; pity at himself for being given a wonderful child who’d had an awful physical curse? And had the son read the book in his thirties, would he recognize himself in his father’s depiction of him: would he see his actions as brave and noble, would he understand he had a choice in reacting to his diagnosis as he did, would he cry for his father for not being able to find a cure? I suppose you’d have to know me to understand why I question this portrayal now, when I could otherwise leave it be as a beautiful and heart-wrenching story. But as a former star student who did get all the academic awards despite dealing with disability and did work her way through Harvard, getting summa cum laude because my mom would expect nothing less, and whom everyone called brave and unfazed, I wonder what the boy would grow up to think. No, my mom isn’t proud of me anymore. I didn’t apply for the Rhodes Scholarship, you see. I’m just an adult disabled child, according to the government, trying to find meaning in each day.
“I know I put too much of my own perspective in these hypothetical questions, but they are real questions. ”
I did send another email apologizing for my confession but I don’t know if I simply dug myself a deeper (premature) grave:
“P.S. Sorry for the Gunther diatribe. I just wonder if it’d be easier on more parents of chronically ill children if their kids died while they were still perfect.”
The last sentence in the Aftermath, from a doctor of his, Dr. Traegar: "He had the most brilliant promise of any child I have ever known."
Yes, he died still full of promise.
My new take on the book, after fourteen years passing since I first read it:
Tonight, I read someone’s review of “Death Be Not Proud” on Goodreads.com, a great review for a classic book, but for some misguided search for understanding I sent this message to the reviewer:
“I, too, cried when I first read this book and I’m sure I’ll cry again when I read it this weekend, as I plan to. But I wonder how much my intervening years will change my perspective on the truth of the portrait. Certainly the boy was a gifted and courageous human being and his father loved him as any parent would. But had he survived and remained disabled, would his father’s love have shown a different form: frustration that his son was now pursuing goals that didn’t match his father’s expectations of brilliance and success; anger that his son couldn’t work full-time like his healthy classmates and earn as many bragging rights as they; pity at himself for being given a wonderful child who’d had an awful physical curse? And had the son read the book in his thirties, would he recognize himself in his father’s depiction of him: would he see his actions as brave and noble, would he understand he had a choice in reacting to his diagnosis as he did, would he cry for his father for not being able to find a cure? I suppose you’d have to know me to understand why I question this portrayal now, when I could otherwise leave it be as a beautiful and heart-wrenching story. But as a former star student who did get all the academic awards despite dealing with disability and did work her way through Harvard, getting summa cum laude because my mom would expect nothing less, and whom everyone called brave and unfazed, I wonder what the boy would grow up to think. No, my mom isn’t proud of me anymore. I didn’t apply for the Rhodes Scholarship, you see. I’m just an adult disabled child, according to the government, trying to find meaning in each day.
“I know I put too much of my own perspective in these hypothetical questions, but they are real questions. ”
I did send another email apologizing for my confession but I don’t know if I simply dug myself a deeper (premature) grave:
“P.S. Sorry for the Gunther diatribe. I just wonder if it’d be easier on more parents of chronically ill children if their kids died while they were still perfect.”
The last sentence in the Aftermath, from a doctor of his, Dr. Traegar: "He had the most brilliant promise of any child I have ever known."
Yes, he died still full of promise.
August 19, 2007
This book first caught my attention when I read the title, a reference to a John Donne poem by the same name. I was immediately intrigued, and decided to read this story of a a young boy who dies of a brain tumor.
The book was written by the boy's father after his death, and in many ways is the eulogy of a bereaved father who desperately loves his son. He writes of the genius of the boy, and we, the reader, come to believe with the father that this young man would have truly changed the world had he been permitted to live.
I first read this book many years ago and came to love the young man who will never reach adulthood. My heart broke at his parent's (and the world's) loss. Many years later, I lost my dear friend Elizabeth to the same illness, and I again revisited this book as part of my own grieving.
It is a story of hope and striving, and ultimately, of loss. It is one of my personal favorites, and I recommend it to anyone who has a heart and enjoys feeling wide and varied emotions when reading a book. I imagine this book will make all but the most hardened person cry, and yet it is a cleansing cry: it does the soul good to empathize with father and son and to take their grief as our own.
The book was written by the boy's father after his death, and in many ways is the eulogy of a bereaved father who desperately loves his son. He writes of the genius of the boy, and we, the reader, come to believe with the father that this young man would have truly changed the world had he been permitted to live.
I first read this book many years ago and came to love the young man who will never reach adulthood. My heart broke at his parent's (and the world's) loss. Many years later, I lost my dear friend Elizabeth to the same illness, and I again revisited this book as part of my own grieving.
It is a story of hope and striving, and ultimately, of loss. It is one of my personal favorites, and I recommend it to anyone who has a heart and enjoys feeling wide and varied emotions when reading a book. I imagine this book will make all but the most hardened person cry, and yet it is a cleansing cry: it does the soul good to empathize with father and son and to take their grief as our own.
February 13, 2018
This was a hard book to read. The death of a child is always sad, and intense medical descriptions are something (for me personally) that induce queasiness. I did feel like he was trying to convince me that his son's death was more tragic than other children's because he felt his son was more brilliant than others. This novel also comes from a place of privilege when you have so much money that you can afford the best hospitals and doctors for your child without thinking about it. It made me feel sad for all the parents who have sick children with added stress of huge medical bills they have no idea how they will pay.
July 6, 2012
I picked this up at a used book store prepared to throw it away if it wasn't good. In my experience, the better the title of a book you've never heard of, the more likely it is to be disappointing. By that standard, I was willing to take a chance on Death Be Not Proud but fully expected to be disappointed. I wasn't. Written in 1949 by the famous journalist John Gunther about his death of his son-a genius-at 17 from a brain tumor, DBNP is deeply moving and profound. As a young person who has accomplished a lot yet is fully aware how little those accomplishments mean, I connected with the boy who knows he will die too soon and struggles to do it with dignity and purpose. Midway through the book, Johnny writes what he calls the Unbeliever's Prayer. It's good enough to be from Epictetus or Montaigne-and he was 16 when he wrote it.
May 20, 2010
I don't like the goodreads rating system. I want to give this book 3 stars, but the designation "it was OK" is more fitting than "I liked it." Yet, 2 stars seems like an unnecessary slam.
The book is a little saccharine for my taste. Basically it comes down to a father who loved his son and was full of justified or unjustified pride. According to Mr. Gunther, his son was: better, smarter, nicer, braver, etc than any other person on the face of the planet. I understand why he felt that way and I think it's a nice thing when a parent holds their child in such esteem. But, on the other hand, it became a little tedious to read after a while and I found myself wondering if Johnny would have been a rather arrogant person from his parents constantly blowing sunshine up his a**.
At one point Mr. Gunther quotes his son as saying, "My mother and father think that anything connected with me is remarkable. These strange parents...." I thought to myself, "Yep. Basically."
Overall the book was OK. Based on the description I was expecting a more philosophical look at the struggle to accept death. But really it was just an account of his son's last months of life.
At the very end of the book Johnny's mother (the author's ex-wife) included some remarks. I found what she had to say about death and losing her son to be very touching and I wish the book had been written by her.
The book is a little saccharine for my taste. Basically it comes down to a father who loved his son and was full of justified or unjustified pride. According to Mr. Gunther, his son was: better, smarter, nicer, braver, etc than any other person on the face of the planet. I understand why he felt that way and I think it's a nice thing when a parent holds their child in such esteem. But, on the other hand, it became a little tedious to read after a while and I found myself wondering if Johnny would have been a rather arrogant person from his parents constantly blowing sunshine up his a**.
At one point Mr. Gunther quotes his son as saying, "My mother and father think that anything connected with me is remarkable. These strange parents...." I thought to myself, "Yep. Basically."
Overall the book was OK. Based on the description I was expecting a more philosophical look at the struggle to accept death. But really it was just an account of his son's last months of life.
At the very end of the book Johnny's mother (the author's ex-wife) included some remarks. I found what she had to say about death and losing her son to be very touching and I wish the book had been written by her.
October 5, 2021
The negative reviews of this book surprise me. Having gone through the trials, agony, and pain of losing my child to a brain tumor, I appreciated the telling of Johnny's story, from the desperate measures they attempted to the descriptions of daily life. I felt his parents' pain- I know that pain. Staying positive and trying to be optimistic when death is looming is a struggle I remember. I appreciate knowing that my feelings are universal and I found a connection with their story. The short epilogue written by Johnny's mom especially resonated with me, though I mostly skipped over the short section of Johnny's letters.
One surprising thing to note was how much they knew about brain tumors 80 years ago. It was more than I would have thought. A sad thing is how little progress we have made in these years. Malignant brain tumors are still very deadly today.
One surprising thing to note was how much they knew about brain tumors 80 years ago. It was more than I would have thought. A sad thing is how little progress we have made in these years. Malignant brain tumors are still very deadly today.
August 29, 2009
I think it is too easy to talk about children who die before adulthood as though they are saints. They are unflawed and therefore able to be exalted as perfect after their deaths. They are - in the eyes of the storytellers - eternally brave, friendly, and hopeful. While the copy of Death Be Not Proud that I have includes Johnny's diary and letters, I do not believe that this account of his life was true in the sense that it tells his story from his own mouth. How do we know that he was not just keeping a brave face for those around him because he did not want to disappoint them? We know this could be possible, yet we continue to write these tales, which further limit the ability of currently suffering children (and adults) to admit their pain, fears, and despair.
Despite these misgivings, the book itself was written well and is undeniably heartfelt. As the reviews suggest, it has the possibility to give us all hope by reading about the example of one who had so much to lose and kept a brave face through it all.
Despite these misgivings, the book itself was written well and is undeniably heartfelt. As the reviews suggest, it has the possibility to give us all hope by reading about the example of one who had so much to lose and kept a brave face through it all.
March 18, 2013
A profound little book. I started reading this ages ago, before I was fully able to understand the subject matter. Now, reading it again as a young adult I am more apt to understand and appreciate this work. I am fascinated by Johnny's selfless tendencies - to care more for his parents than his own trials. He does express his upset occasionally, but for the most part he is consumed by his passions in science and his aspirations for the future.
I wonder if he is so optimistic about his recovery because of the way in which his parents refuse to describe the severity of his condition. I think particularly to the instance in which the parents remove the definition of Johnny's terminal brain tumor from their medical journals - something that would not stop a modern teen but is enough to quell Johnny's curiosities.
I wonder if Johnny is so selfless because of the time and place which he inhabits - the era being specifically important. In that era, children were more obedient and common courtesies were more prevalent in society - certainly more-so than in modern society where children rarely seem to show their parents any respect, and fewer still seem to be able to accept illness as Johnny does so graciously. This memoir raises more questions than answers for me, it seems - but provokes thought and questions of the human condition - which is always something for which I search in a piece of literature.
This is definitely a book worth reading - and one that should be re-read periodically throughout one's life... I feel when I am drawn to read it again in a few years time, I may be able to answer some of my current pontifications, though fear I may only find more on which to speculate.
I wonder if he is so optimistic about his recovery because of the way in which his parents refuse to describe the severity of his condition. I think particularly to the instance in which the parents remove the definition of Johnny's terminal brain tumor from their medical journals - something that would not stop a modern teen but is enough to quell Johnny's curiosities.
I wonder if Johnny is so selfless because of the time and place which he inhabits - the era being specifically important. In that era, children were more obedient and common courtesies were more prevalent in society - certainly more-so than in modern society where children rarely seem to show their parents any respect, and fewer still seem to be able to accept illness as Johnny does so graciously. This memoir raises more questions than answers for me, it seems - but provokes thought and questions of the human condition - which is always something for which I search in a piece of literature.
This is definitely a book worth reading - and one that should be re-read periodically throughout one's life... I feel when I am drawn to read it again in a few years time, I may be able to answer some of my current pontifications, though fear I may only find more on which to speculate.
April 15, 2021
This is a very sad and emotionally painful book to read. What Johnny had to go through and what his parents had to see and feel was heart wrenching. I read this when I was in high school in the 1970 S and now as an older adult the pain was just as painful.
January 6, 2025
I read this book quite some time ago. John Gunther writes a moving and heartbreaking tribute to his son who died of a brain tumor.
March 9, 2019
A truly disturbing book, in my opinion, for several reasons. Somehow, I escaped having to read this in high school. John Gunther, the father of Johnny and the author of this book, can be forgiven for writing a hagiography, though writing it for publication seems to me to have been a bit strange. Johnny has almost no voice here. Reducing him to a series of precocious comments and what are clearly coping strategies, deflection, and a heartbreaking attempt to keep his parents together as they continually lied to him about his condition, seems deeply unfair. John Gunther's narration is irritating, which I think would be a difficult achievement for anyone writing this material. He never gave us Johnny--he gave us his idea of Johnny. Only in Frances Gunther's afterword do we ever get a true sense of who this young man really was.
I was troubled throughout that this young man--seventeen--whom Gunther portrays as nothing short of a genius was not given the respect of knowing what was wrong with him. Throughout, his parents chose not to tell him that he had brain cancer, that the cancer was aggressive, that the tumor was not shrinking. I know it was a different time, but I felt a cold chill with every page I turned. I found myself thinking about what great interest Johnny would've taken in the biology of his illness, in coming up with cures, in inventing new approaches. I felt his parents stole this from him but also put him through some truly atrocious experiences in order to prolong his life--when they hadn't even told him his life was in danger. One of the most gut-wrenching parts of this for me was that at some point Johnny, being as smart as he was, clearly figured out what was wrong with him and that he was dying, but he never let his parents know that he knew. What a burden he must have carried.
It's impossible to judge them, even though I know I sound judgy. I was just taken aback by the contents of the book, one that I've of course heard about since I was a child. I was also taken aback by how deeply disturbing I found the book, as a parent.
One thing I suggest is that you read Frances Gunther's afterword. It's beautifully written, and it has all the subtlety, all the insight, all the perspective that is missing from John Gunther's hagiographic narration. To her, Johnny is not a saint but a complex human being, and I so wish this book had written by her. You can sort of read between the lines of John Gunther's account of Johnny's illness to see how strong Frances was, but it's in Johnny's letters to his mother and his diary entries that are included in most editions where you see just how much Johnny adored his mother and how much she gave him in terms of intellectual stimulation and plain old love and affection. It is mentioned almost as an aside that many of their bedside conversations had to do with death, a topic that John Gunther steadfastly avoided discussing with his son.
I was troubled throughout that this young man--seventeen--whom Gunther portrays as nothing short of a genius was not given the respect of knowing what was wrong with him. Throughout, his parents chose not to tell him that he had brain cancer, that the cancer was aggressive, that the tumor was not shrinking. I know it was a different time, but I felt a cold chill with every page I turned. I found myself thinking about what great interest Johnny would've taken in the biology of his illness, in coming up with cures, in inventing new approaches. I felt his parents stole this from him but also put him through some truly atrocious experiences in order to prolong his life--when they hadn't even told him his life was in danger. One of the most gut-wrenching parts of this for me was that at some point Johnny, being as smart as he was, clearly figured out what was wrong with him and that he was dying, but he never let his parents know that he knew. What a burden he must have carried.
It's impossible to judge them, even though I know I sound judgy. I was just taken aback by the contents of the book, one that I've of course heard about since I was a child. I was also taken aback by how deeply disturbing I found the book, as a parent.
One thing I suggest is that you read Frances Gunther's afterword. It's beautifully written, and it has all the subtlety, all the insight, all the perspective that is missing from John Gunther's hagiographic narration. To her, Johnny is not a saint but a complex human being, and I so wish this book had written by her. You can sort of read between the lines of John Gunther's account of Johnny's illness to see how strong Frances was, but it's in Johnny's letters to his mother and his diary entries that are included in most editions where you see just how much Johnny adored his mother and how much she gave him in terms of intellectual stimulation and plain old love and affection. It is mentioned almost as an aside that many of their bedside conversations had to do with death, a topic that John Gunther steadfastly avoided discussing with his son.
August 4, 2022
Mixed feelings about this one. I think I liked it mainly for its stylized writing, simultaneously elevated and straightforward, as one would expected from a celebrated correspondent. Gunther is very coy in his introduction, making claims about fatherly perspectives and pretenses to exceptionalism which he baldly abandons almost immediately. The second part, mainly filled with journal entries and blow-by-blows, generally repeated (but in a less interesting way) the first part; one gets the impression that Gunther included them mainly as a concession to his ex-wife.
I am not sure whether Death Be Not Proud would be a helpful read for anyone facing a difficult or terminal diagnosis; it doesn't have much to offer in the way of universal perspective or philosophic outlook. But it does offer splendid insight into the lifestyle, writing style, and the state of medicine of a particular social strata in the early-to-mid 1900s.
I am not sure whether Death Be Not Proud would be a helpful read for anyone facing a difficult or terminal diagnosis; it doesn't have much to offer in the way of universal perspective or philosophic outlook. But it does offer splendid insight into the lifestyle, writing style, and the state of medicine of a particular social strata in the early-to-mid 1900s.
August 6, 2012
This book, a true story told in the most depressing but straight forward manner you could read it in. The writer, the boys father, tells it from his point of view. The sadness he felt, the total love he had for his son. The story is about the life of a tumor with in you Johnny Gunther JR. One that should've killed him within months but he outlasted it for years. It made me cry by the truth in it. The will of the human spirit. I would recommend it to everyone. Which is saying a lot as I rarely read nonfiction. I myself could take it very personally as my own father almost died from a brain tumor. One that is showing signs of returning. Some people have called the story drab and just plain sad. I found it to be a real page turner and yes very sad. The last line in Death be not proud says "And then like a thief, death stole him". I couldn't put the book down. Johnny was probably the bravest teen I have ever read of. To take death in a joking manner as if it did not concern him, but secretly he feared it, as we all do. We got to see his decent, his parents desperate search to save him, his doctors struggle to save him, and the saddest part the fact that he had so much potential and everyone loved him. This book was truly inspiring and should be read.
January 24, 2008
reread this memoir,after many years, of a teenage son's 15-month fight against brain cancer in the mid-1940s. it's moving, and fascinating not only in itself but as a time capsule...
for one thing, gunther references the intelligentsia of the 30s and 40s (somehow without seeming like he's name dropping - but that could also be because the names are older... and some have fallen into obscurity). in a weird way, it reminded me of the movie Quiz Show, in its portrait of a time and (certain) place where knowledge and thought was unapologetically valued.
for another, you get a tour of orthodox and unorthodox cancer treatments circa 1943/4.
i was also struck by the depiction of a teenager who, we'd now say, clearly has ADD!
and finally, i noticed that the mother's approach to raising a child was like something out of salinger: she instructs him in all world religions, especially buddhism. at the end of this edition are excerpts from johnny's journals and you can see the effect of this.
and finally, and finally, and also, and fascinating too was...
back to work for me.
for one thing, gunther references the intelligentsia of the 30s and 40s (somehow without seeming like he's name dropping - but that could also be because the names are older... and some have fallen into obscurity). in a weird way, it reminded me of the movie Quiz Show, in its portrait of a time and (certain) place where knowledge and thought was unapologetically valued.
for another, you get a tour of orthodox and unorthodox cancer treatments circa 1943/4.
i was also struck by the depiction of a teenager who, we'd now say, clearly has ADD!
and finally, i noticed that the mother's approach to raising a child was like something out of salinger: she instructs him in all world religions, especially buddhism. at the end of this edition are excerpts from johnny's journals and you can see the effect of this.
and finally, and finally, and also, and fascinating too was...
back to work for me.
October 22, 2012
A heartbreaking tale that would give you a positive look about being ALIVE. Be thankful. Be stupefied. We should feel blessed that we still have a wonderful life to live. Johnny had the same age as mine when he left this world. Too young for such a man than takes every single day of his life to be very very very vital. He could've done so many great and indescribable things, if it had not been for that evil thing we call 'brain tumor'. Johnny, I salute you! I admire your courage and willingness to live.
I'm glad that this book became the first memoir that I have read. Deeply moving indeed.
- Science cannot outrun death. It can slow it, but it cannot escape from it.
"No fear of Death, no fight against Death, no enmity toward Death, friendship with Death as with Life. That is – Death for myself, but not for Johnny, God, not yet. He’s too young to miss all the other parts of Life, all the other lovely living parts of Life. All the wonderful, miraculous things to do, to feel, to see, to hear, to touch, to smell, to taste, to experience, to enjoy. What a joy Life is. Why does no one talk of the joy of Life? Shout, sing, write of the joy of Life?"
–Frances Gunther
I'm glad that this book became the first memoir that I have read. Deeply moving indeed.
- Science cannot outrun death. It can slow it, but it cannot escape from it.
"No fear of Death, no fight against Death, no enmity toward Death, friendship with Death as with Life. That is – Death for myself, but not for Johnny, God, not yet. He’s too young to miss all the other parts of Life, all the other lovely living parts of Life. All the wonderful, miraculous things to do, to feel, to see, to hear, to touch, to smell, to taste, to experience, to enjoy. What a joy Life is. Why does no one talk of the joy of Life? Shout, sing, write of the joy of Life?"
–Frances Gunther
March 31, 2019
Nonfiction has never been a genre I loved, and picking up this book was originally a challenge. I believed that it would be boring and difficult to read because of my bias towards nonfiction. However, after just the first page I became invested in this beautifully written story of a young boy with cancer. This heartbreaking story is not told in an emotional way, or even an overly factual way, but simply tells and documents the journey of Johnny's and the emotions that came with it. I found it particularly interesting that the book was written by Johnny's father, which gives the story depth and even more insight into the events that occurred (Johnny's diagnosis, treatment, etc.) I will admit I became very emotional while reading parts of the book, and this is certainly not for the faint of heart. But, I know for a fact that I will remember Johnny's journey for the rest of my life, and he is truly an inspiration. If I could rate this 100 stars, I most definitely would.
July 7, 2007
I found this drab. A sad story. It was difficult to relate to the situation. Though Johnny Gunther seemed to have had a spirit even his overbearingly proud father could not dim even through his(father's) storytelling. I felt it was a rather inappropriate publication and seemed to have served the purpose of easing his(author's) own pain rather than enlightening the public with the triumphant soul of a helpless child, which is understandable. This story might better have been told with outside assistance.
April 11, 2014
I grabbed this book off my shelf several times over the past couple years but always put it back out of the fear that it would be all too depressing. As a father myself, it sounded like a rather unpleasant experience to read another father chronicle the death of his seventeen-year-old son. But when I finally put those concerns aside, I found that Death Be Not Proud wasn't all that depressing after all. But it also wasn't very good.
The book offered very little for me in terms of reflections on life and death. Gunther's telling focused primarily on the physical aspects of his son's tumor and treatment, and didn't delve too deeply into the emotions of losing a child.
In some ways this isn't terribly surprising. Gunther, along with his ex-wife, were after all the type of parents who shipped their child off to a boarding school and even in the midst of his fatal illness seemed to be more concerned about their own lives than remaining by their dying son's side. The father continued to travel for his work, both parents took vacations while their son was in the hospital, and rather tellingly Johnny was the one to phone his parents every morning and evening.
I get that over a 15-month ordeal that the parents wouldn't be by Johnny's side at every minute, but jaunting off on holiday at a time when your kid could die any minute is something I can't imagine doing. Obviously no one knows how they would react until they were in such a horrible situation, but I would like to think that if it were my child I would have prioritized being with him every possible minute while I still had him.
It wasn't until the very end of the book when Frances Gunther interjected her own few pages that some real emotion shone through. Yes, John Gunther was clearly proud of his son and I'm sure he was a good father when he was around but Death Be Not Proud left me with the feeling that its writing was more about John than Johnny. That's a shame because it is clear through his father's telling that Johnny was a bright, upbeat kid who bravely faced his meeting with death. But most of the emotional impact of that 15-month ordeal was stripped bare in the elder Gunther's overly-clinical telling.
The book offered very little for me in terms of reflections on life and death. Gunther's telling focused primarily on the physical aspects of his son's tumor and treatment, and didn't delve too deeply into the emotions of losing a child.
In some ways this isn't terribly surprising. Gunther, along with his ex-wife, were after all the type of parents who shipped their child off to a boarding school and even in the midst of his fatal illness seemed to be more concerned about their own lives than remaining by their dying son's side. The father continued to travel for his work, both parents took vacations while their son was in the hospital, and rather tellingly Johnny was the one to phone his parents every morning and evening.
I get that over a 15-month ordeal that the parents wouldn't be by Johnny's side at every minute, but jaunting off on holiday at a time when your kid could die any minute is something I can't imagine doing. Obviously no one knows how they would react until they were in such a horrible situation, but I would like to think that if it were my child I would have prioritized being with him every possible minute while I still had him.
It wasn't until the very end of the book when Frances Gunther interjected her own few pages that some real emotion shone through. Yes, John Gunther was clearly proud of his son and I'm sure he was a good father when he was around but Death Be Not Proud left me with the feeling that its writing was more about John than Johnny. That's a shame because it is clear through his father's telling that Johnny was a bright, upbeat kid who bravely faced his meeting with death. But most of the emotional impact of that 15-month ordeal was stripped bare in the elder Gunther's overly-clinical telling.
June 5, 2007
My mother died from cancer shortly before my twelfth birthday and this might have been the first book about a cancer patient that I read; I did read it around that time. The first of many books as since that time period I’ve developed a rather morbid interest in reading books about cancer and cancer patients. I remember appreciating this one because it unflinchingly described what it was like to live with and die from cancer (the honesty extremely unusual for its time) and because I liked the exceptional 17 year old boy with the malignant brain tumor. Particularly wrenching as it’s a memoir written after he dies and it’s by the kid’s father, and there’s a essay in the back of the book by his mother as well.
August 29, 2007
i read this book because a student of mine had to read it for summer reading at FLC (franklin learning center). mostly, the book left me with a sad, disappointed feeling. i think that the topic of death is an important one, especially because my students are well-acquainted with it and should be given avenues through which to discuss it, but i'd like to think there's another, better book out there.
June 10, 2019
I went through a phase while in my teens where I read a bunch of books, mostly true, about kids or young adults fighting terrible diseases - Karen, I Am Third, and this one. I remember the sadness of reading of a young man, only 17, fighting valiantly against a dire diagnosis.
I picked this up as a reread for a genre challenge, knowing that now I am on the other side of this story. It is still unutterably sad. At the time that Johnny Gunther was diagnosed with brain cancer, there were few things that could be done. He and his family were at least able to try what therapies were available, to consult the experts in the field.
But what I saw this time, besides the tragic death of this young man, was the experience of his entire family and how closely it mirrored our experiences nearly 60 years later as our daughter, younger but no less of a courageous fighter, battled cancer for nearly 4 years.
As Johnny first enters the hospital for treatment, his father mentions that "we found ourselves sucked at once into the vast mechanism of a modern hospital, with all its arbitrary and rectilinear confusion." As the worst becomes apparent, the family struggles to stave off the inevitable. My husband and I and our daughter knew that we were facing uphill odds, especially in the last year of her life when the tumor had metastasized to her spine and then paralyzed her from the waist down, but we always thought that there would be a first person to survive and maybe we could hang on for the breakthrough we needed. Johnny's father says it so well: "The thought never left us that if only we could defer somehow what everybody said was inevitable, if only we could stave off Death for a few weeks or months, something totally new might turn up. What we sought above all was time." Later, when all the therapies are exhausted, he again touches on something universal for parents of children with a serious illness: "All he had now was his will to live. We had to keep that up at any cost." His mother speaks to the aftermath of a child's death as the outpouring of condolences attempt to convey the sorrow and loss: "...through most of them has run a single theme: sympathy with us in facing a mysterious stroke of God's will that seemed inexplicable, unjustifiable, and yet, being God's will, must also be part of some great plan beyond our mortal ken, perhaps sparing him or us greater pain or loss." She discusses the failure that we have felt, and sometimes still feel, that we should have done more: "Missing him now, I am haunted by my own shortcomings, how often I failed him. I think every parent must have a sense of failure...merely in remaining alive after the death of a child. One feels that it is not right to live when one's child has died, that one should somehow have found the way to give one's life to save his life."
And so this book that spoke to me in my youth of a tragic death of a young man, now speaks to me of the entire family's experience of that tragedy and how little this has changed. Cancer was a dire diagnosis in the 40s and, even with all the advances in chemotherapy and surgery and radiation, it is still a diagnosis that brings heartache and tragedy to too many families. Read this story for its universal truths.
Other quotes to remember:
...Johnny loved life desperately and we loved him desperately and it was our duty to try absolutely everything and keep him alive as long as possible...Always we thought that, if only we could maintain life somehow, some extraordinary new cure might be discovered.
We said goodbye. But to anybody who ever knew him, he is still alive. I do not mean merely that he lives in both of us or in the trees at Deerfield or in anything he touched truly, but that the influence, the impact, of a heroic personality continues to exert itself long after mortal bonds are snapped. Johnny transmits permanently something of what he was, since the fabric of the universe is continuous and eternal.
There are other criteria for measuring a life as well as its duration - quality, intensity. But for us there is no compensation, except that we can go to him though he cannot come to us. For others, I would say that it was his spirit, and only his spirit, that kept him invincibly alive against such dreadful obstacles for so long - this is the central pith and substance of what I am trying to write, as a mournful tribute not only to Johnny but to the power, the wealth, the unconquerable beauty of the human spirit, will, and soul.
I picked this up as a reread for a genre challenge, knowing that now I am on the other side of this story. It is still unutterably sad. At the time that Johnny Gunther was diagnosed with brain cancer, there were few things that could be done. He and his family were at least able to try what therapies were available, to consult the experts in the field.
But what I saw this time, besides the tragic death of this young man, was the experience of his entire family and how closely it mirrored our experiences nearly 60 years later as our daughter, younger but no less of a courageous fighter, battled cancer for nearly 4 years.
As Johnny first enters the hospital for treatment, his father mentions that "we found ourselves sucked at once into the vast mechanism of a modern hospital, with all its arbitrary and rectilinear confusion." As the worst becomes apparent, the family struggles to stave off the inevitable. My husband and I and our daughter knew that we were facing uphill odds, especially in the last year of her life when the tumor had metastasized to her spine and then paralyzed her from the waist down, but we always thought that there would be a first person to survive and maybe we could hang on for the breakthrough we needed. Johnny's father says it so well: "The thought never left us that if only we could defer somehow what everybody said was inevitable, if only we could stave off Death for a few weeks or months, something totally new might turn up. What we sought above all was time." Later, when all the therapies are exhausted, he again touches on something universal for parents of children with a serious illness: "All he had now was his will to live. We had to keep that up at any cost." His mother speaks to the aftermath of a child's death as the outpouring of condolences attempt to convey the sorrow and loss: "...through most of them has run a single theme: sympathy with us in facing a mysterious stroke of God's will that seemed inexplicable, unjustifiable, and yet, being God's will, must also be part of some great plan beyond our mortal ken, perhaps sparing him or us greater pain or loss." She discusses the failure that we have felt, and sometimes still feel, that we should have done more: "Missing him now, I am haunted by my own shortcomings, how often I failed him. I think every parent must have a sense of failure...merely in remaining alive after the death of a child. One feels that it is not right to live when one's child has died, that one should somehow have found the way to give one's life to save his life."
And so this book that spoke to me in my youth of a tragic death of a young man, now speaks to me of the entire family's experience of that tragedy and how little this has changed. Cancer was a dire diagnosis in the 40s and, even with all the advances in chemotherapy and surgery and radiation, it is still a diagnosis that brings heartache and tragedy to too many families. Read this story for its universal truths.
Other quotes to remember:
...Johnny loved life desperately and we loved him desperately and it was our duty to try absolutely everything and keep him alive as long as possible...Always we thought that, if only we could maintain life somehow, some extraordinary new cure might be discovered.
We said goodbye. But to anybody who ever knew him, he is still alive. I do not mean merely that he lives in both of us or in the trees at Deerfield or in anything he touched truly, but that the influence, the impact, of a heroic personality continues to exert itself long after mortal bonds are snapped. Johnny transmits permanently something of what he was, since the fabric of the universe is continuous and eternal.
There are other criteria for measuring a life as well as its duration - quality, intensity. But for us there is no compensation, except that we can go to him though he cannot come to us. For others, I would say that it was his spirit, and only his spirit, that kept him invincibly alive against such dreadful obstacles for so long - this is the central pith and substance of what I am trying to write, as a mournful tribute not only to Johnny but to the power, the wealth, the unconquerable beauty of the human spirit, will, and soul.
October 18, 2014
Called in to serve jury duty and wanting something to read while waiting in the jurors room, I grabbed this book off of a shelf of old books in my garage. Ironically I didn't get placed on a jury, but now I'm putting myself to judge this book.
I'd never heard of the book before and was not familiar with the author even though I'd had the book sitting in my garage for many years. From my research on the author I found that he was well known from the late 1930's until the 1970's. Though he'd written a number of best-sellers in his time, Death Be Not Proud is for the most part the only book for which he is remembered.
The story deals with the discovery that his teenage son has a serious brain tumor that will lead to death and the road that the parents take to prolong the young man's life. The kid dies in the end, but that's not a spoiler since we are told the outcome from the beginning. The real story is the attempts to prolong the teen's life and the struggle that the young man has to deal with along the way.
Since we are seeing this story mainly through the eyes of the father who is a professional writer what we get is a very competently written account of the event. In some ways the presentation is strangely analytical and aloof, but after all the author was essentially a journalist.
I was not particularly moved by the story, but it was compelling to read nevertheless. The story is recounted with great detail as we are given background on the author's son and the treatments he undergoes in order to attempt to keep him alive. I found it interesting that the treatment for cancer and tumors seemed to be similar to what we now have, but then again I might be reading into this aspect from my point of view of the reader in "the future".
Naturally it's sad to read about the premature passing of anyone and all the more so when the death comes to a young man who seemed to show so much promise for the future. Therein lies part of the problem of this story. Young Johnny Gunther was a child of what was obviously a privileged family who were able to provide the best treatments they could find in their day. They had money and connections with people in high places. This story for the average American would have ended far sooner with lesser consequences.
After all the parents from the sound of things spend most of their time galavanting about the globe while their son has essentially been raised in private schools. The story that is not told is perhaps more intriguing than the one that we read in this book. The parents obviously have some kind of love for the boy, but I was drawn to the question of what this son really meant to them and what would have eventually happened had the boy lived a normal life span. Silly questions I suppose, but still this was the sort of thing that crossed my mind as I was reading. Just as young Johnny wonders about why his parents were divorced, I too wondered about this couple who appear to work well together through the ordeal and yet seem to lead very distinct lives apart.
I may well have missed the point of this short memoir--a very quick and easy read--but still I think the author may have missed some opportunities for a deeper analysis that might have been more satisfying to readers years after the incidents in the book occurred.
All in all this book is an okay diversion for passing one's time, but I don't think I would label this as a "classic". I'm not certain why students would be required to read this book for literature classes other than the fact that it is well written for the most part. And I mean well written like a good magazine article, albeit a very long, perhaps serialized article. I was left somewhat cold by the book even though I was engrossed throughout and glad that I had read it.
Would I recommend this book to anyone else? Sure, if you go into it with the understanding of what the book is about. Because it's a short quick reading experience you won't be giving up much to get through Death Be Not Proud and some readers may get more from it than what I did. I was not uplifted, but it was something to read while I was just passing time.
I'd never heard of the book before and was not familiar with the author even though I'd had the book sitting in my garage for many years. From my research on the author I found that he was well known from the late 1930's until the 1970's. Though he'd written a number of best-sellers in his time, Death Be Not Proud is for the most part the only book for which he is remembered.
The story deals with the discovery that his teenage son has a serious brain tumor that will lead to death and the road that the parents take to prolong the young man's life. The kid dies in the end, but that's not a spoiler since we are told the outcome from the beginning. The real story is the attempts to prolong the teen's life and the struggle that the young man has to deal with along the way.
Since we are seeing this story mainly through the eyes of the father who is a professional writer what we get is a very competently written account of the event. In some ways the presentation is strangely analytical and aloof, but after all the author was essentially a journalist.
I was not particularly moved by the story, but it was compelling to read nevertheless. The story is recounted with great detail as we are given background on the author's son and the treatments he undergoes in order to attempt to keep him alive. I found it interesting that the treatment for cancer and tumors seemed to be similar to what we now have, but then again I might be reading into this aspect from my point of view of the reader in "the future".
Naturally it's sad to read about the premature passing of anyone and all the more so when the death comes to a young man who seemed to show so much promise for the future. Therein lies part of the problem of this story. Young Johnny Gunther was a child of what was obviously a privileged family who were able to provide the best treatments they could find in their day. They had money and connections with people in high places. This story for the average American would have ended far sooner with lesser consequences.
After all the parents from the sound of things spend most of their time galavanting about the globe while their son has essentially been raised in private schools. The story that is not told is perhaps more intriguing than the one that we read in this book. The parents obviously have some kind of love for the boy, but I was drawn to the question of what this son really meant to them and what would have eventually happened had the boy lived a normal life span. Silly questions I suppose, but still this was the sort of thing that crossed my mind as I was reading. Just as young Johnny wonders about why his parents were divorced, I too wondered about this couple who appear to work well together through the ordeal and yet seem to lead very distinct lives apart.
I may well have missed the point of this short memoir--a very quick and easy read--but still I think the author may have missed some opportunities for a deeper analysis that might have been more satisfying to readers years after the incidents in the book occurred.
All in all this book is an okay diversion for passing one's time, but I don't think I would label this as a "classic". I'm not certain why students would be required to read this book for literature classes other than the fact that it is well written for the most part. And I mean well written like a good magazine article, albeit a very long, perhaps serialized article. I was left somewhat cold by the book even though I was engrossed throughout and glad that I had read it.
Would I recommend this book to anyone else? Sure, if you go into it with the understanding of what the book is about. Because it's a short quick reading experience you won't be giving up much to get through Death Be Not Proud and some readers may get more from it than what I did. I was not uplifted, but it was something to read while I was just passing time.
September 11, 2017
Read this a long time ago, and again just now because it was featured in Will Schwabe's "Books for Living." What struck me most about this story, of a high school senior who lives for 15 months with a brain tumor, is how much the world has changed -- and how little cancer has. John Gunther is an author, well known in his time, who tells the story of his son Johnny's short life from the spring weekend he was diagnosed with a brain tumor to his death just over a year later, just after his high school graduation. It is the story of how hard he fought to live, and how hard his parents fought to make that possible.
Even though the book was written just after World War II, and the science of treatment has changed so much (mustard gas, X-rays, and an insane diet were the primary treatments for Johnny), the disease progress itself has changed very little. That's disheartening. Change the language from X-ray to radiation, eliminate mustard gas and replace it with some other unproven experimental treatment, and change the type of diet, and both the treatment and the disease progress will feel the same then as it does now.
But if cancer has changed very little, the way we live around it has changed so deeply, and that's what was more disheartening to me, today. Obviously this was a family of privilege, John Gunther an accomplished author and apparently Frances Gunther as well; they lived in Manhattan and had a home in the country and sent their child to elite prep schools. But there was an intellectual rigor and curiosity about Johnny that made me sad, in a way, because I just don't know if it exists any more. Johnny wrote letters to Einstein, spent most of his time conducting chemistry experiments and writing mathematical theories; he had composed a symphony at the age of 10, read academic texts out of curiosity, and talked of philosophy, science and religion in great detail. He was almost certainly an extraordinary young man.
But it also was a glimpse into American life before our obsession with social media, with the quick adrenaline surge of Facebook posts. His life was the opposite of superficial, it was filled with meaning and curiosity and engagement. And it is devastating, to see it cut off so abruptly, with so little warning; and in 2017, it is almost more devastating, to realize that none of us -- including me -- live that way any more. I would like to try to do better.
Even though the book was written just after World War II, and the science of treatment has changed so much (mustard gas, X-rays, and an insane diet were the primary treatments for Johnny), the disease progress itself has changed very little. That's disheartening. Change the language from X-ray to radiation, eliminate mustard gas and replace it with some other unproven experimental treatment, and change the type of diet, and both the treatment and the disease progress will feel the same then as it does now.
But if cancer has changed very little, the way we live around it has changed so deeply, and that's what was more disheartening to me, today. Obviously this was a family of privilege, John Gunther an accomplished author and apparently Frances Gunther as well; they lived in Manhattan and had a home in the country and sent their child to elite prep schools. But there was an intellectual rigor and curiosity about Johnny that made me sad, in a way, because I just don't know if it exists any more. Johnny wrote letters to Einstein, spent most of his time conducting chemistry experiments and writing mathematical theories; he had composed a symphony at the age of 10, read academic texts out of curiosity, and talked of philosophy, science and religion in great detail. He was almost certainly an extraordinary young man.
But it also was a glimpse into American life before our obsession with social media, with the quick adrenaline surge of Facebook posts. His life was the opposite of superficial, it was filled with meaning and curiosity and engagement. And it is devastating, to see it cut off so abruptly, with so little warning; and in 2017, it is almost more devastating, to realize that none of us -- including me -- live that way any more. I would like to try to do better.
March 17, 2011
This must be my month for memoirs - on my last trip to the library , of the 5 books I checked out all 5 are memoirs ! When I looked at Gunther's Death Be Not Proud in my stack of books , I wondered why it was there , since like most people I had read it for an assignment in High School . After the shocking fact that High School was 30 + years ago ran through my head , I remembered that I loved this book back then and it was worthy of being a re-read .
A few things happened before , during and after my second go round with this touching book . Taking it from the stack of books , looking at the cover I suddenly remembered an awesome family that had briefly been a part of my life .
I had not thought about " Mary " and her family in years . I'm sure the memory washed over me because of the similarities between her and the Gunther story . I had met Mary at Albany Medical Center when I was young - my brother there frequently for cornea transplants , patch grafts and numerous other eye surgeries - her only son there fighting a brave battle against cancer . I mentally relived the days of watching her never ending love and devotion , her strength and determination , her confusion and sorrow when her child lost his life . I wondered where the years had taken Mary and her husband since that terrible loss - I hope the years since have been good to her and I pray she has been blessed with at least half the comfort she brought to her son .
As I re-read this beautifully written memoir , I cried - again . Sometimes we nurses don't allow ourselves to cry or perhaps we forget how to . I smiled to myself as the tears rolled down my cheeks .
I read the last page , closed the cover , dried my eyes and was amazed when I thought " That's odd ...I remember crying the first time through at Johnny's losses - his what if's and what could have been's that would never come to be . This time I really identified with his parents - their losses and what might have been ." Thirty some years passing since the last time I read this book suddenly didn't seem to be such a bad thing , but more a reminder of how we all grow , mature and are able to see things in many ways .
So glad this book was worthy of being a re-read .....
A few things happened before , during and after my second go round with this touching book . Taking it from the stack of books , looking at the cover I suddenly remembered an awesome family that had briefly been a part of my life .
I had not thought about " Mary " and her family in years . I'm sure the memory washed over me because of the similarities between her and the Gunther story . I had met Mary at Albany Medical Center when I was young - my brother there frequently for cornea transplants , patch grafts and numerous other eye surgeries - her only son there fighting a brave battle against cancer . I mentally relived the days of watching her never ending love and devotion , her strength and determination , her confusion and sorrow when her child lost his life . I wondered where the years had taken Mary and her husband since that terrible loss - I hope the years since have been good to her and I pray she has been blessed with at least half the comfort she brought to her son .
As I re-read this beautifully written memoir , I cried - again . Sometimes we nurses don't allow ourselves to cry or perhaps we forget how to . I smiled to myself as the tears rolled down my cheeks .
I read the last page , closed the cover , dried my eyes and was amazed when I thought " That's odd ...I remember crying the first time through at Johnny's losses - his what if's and what could have been's that would never come to be . This time I really identified with his parents - their losses and what might have been ." Thirty some years passing since the last time I read this book suddenly didn't seem to be such a bad thing , but more a reminder of how we all grow , mature and are able to see things in many ways .
So glad this book was worthy of being a re-read .....
February 23, 2021
This book is written by the father (John Gunther) of a boy (Johnny) who died of a brain tumor, and it is written about the boy's bravery in fighting the brain tumor...
I have mixed feelings about it.
You would think that a book titled Death Be Not Proud narrates a confrontation with death. In fact, at least from the perspective of the father who wrote the book, it is mostly about an avoidance of death—the topic of death, the thought of death, the reality of death.
John Gunther, the father, seems like he wants to avoid telling his son any bad news, or any news at all, about the status of his sickness. I wouldn't judge him for this, as someone who has never been in that position. I was expecting, however, for a book titled Death Be Not Proud to be about reconciling with death in a way that robs it of its power. The events in the book and narrator's response to them, in my opinion, would make Death very proud.
Fortunately there is a final chapter written by Johnny's mother, Frances.
Only in this last chapter do you realize that someone was speaking meaningfully to Johnny about death, and about his disease, the whole time. Frances's nine page reflection on her son's final fifteen months are worth the whole 200 pages of the book and more.
The rest of the book is perfectly readable, and sometimes touching, but written by a journalist. Frances's words are the kind of moving that one would expect from a book titled Death Be Not Proud.
I have mixed feelings about it.
You would think that a book titled Death Be Not Proud narrates a confrontation with death. In fact, at least from the perspective of the father who wrote the book, it is mostly about an avoidance of death—the topic of death, the thought of death, the reality of death.
John Gunther, the father, seems like he wants to avoid telling his son any bad news, or any news at all, about the status of his sickness. I wouldn't judge him for this, as someone who has never been in that position. I was expecting, however, for a book titled Death Be Not Proud to be about reconciling with death in a way that robs it of its power. The events in the book and narrator's response to them, in my opinion, would make Death very proud.
Fortunately there is a final chapter written by Johnny's mother, Frances.
Only in this last chapter do you realize that someone was speaking meaningfully to Johnny about death, and about his disease, the whole time. Frances's nine page reflection on her son's final fifteen months are worth the whole 200 pages of the book and more.
The rest of the book is perfectly readable, and sometimes touching, but written by a journalist. Frances's words are the kind of moving that one would expect from a book titled Death Be Not Proud.
December 25, 2024
It's so odd to realize that if John Gunther, Jr were still alive, he'd be almost 95 years old. The young man so vividly portrayed in his father's elegant and moving memoir, "Death be not Proud", died of a brain tumor in 1947. But he was so "alive" during his short life that his death cut short what could have been a brilliant life, full of contributions to scientific studies.
John Gunther was the only son of John and Frances Gunther. They had divorced a few years before his tumor was discovered but they reunited to care for Johnny. Johnny's brain tumor was found while he was a junior at Deerfield Academy in Massachusetts and he spent the last 14 months of his life enduring surgeries and other treatments, including a stint on the controversial Gerson Diet. He was a brilliant child who, perhaps because of his intelligence, was a bit socially awkward. But he was a child - a young man - who inspired in others a strong sense of awe in how he handled his final days, as well as those that came before.
"Death be not Proud" is not an easy book to read, but it is well worth learning about John Gunther, Jr and his life and death, written by a father who greatly loved his son.
John Gunther was the only son of John and Frances Gunther. They had divorced a few years before his tumor was discovered but they reunited to care for Johnny. Johnny's brain tumor was found while he was a junior at Deerfield Academy in Massachusetts and he spent the last 14 months of his life enduring surgeries and other treatments, including a stint on the controversial Gerson Diet. He was a brilliant child who, perhaps because of his intelligence, was a bit socially awkward. But he was a child - a young man - who inspired in others a strong sense of awe in how he handled his final days, as well as those that came before.
"Death be not Proud" is not an easy book to read, but it is well worth learning about John Gunther, Jr and his life and death, written by a father who greatly loved his son.
May 22, 2016
Although according to Goodreads I read this years ago I am not so sure that is the case. If I did read the book it must have been a speedy perusal for I am positive it would have stayed lodged in both my memory and heart. Death Be Not Proud is a father's tender portrait of his young son's brave battle against incurable cancer in the form of a devastating brain tumor. John Gunther was already a well-established writer when, in 1949, two years after his son's death, he penned this memoir. Part tribute, part cathartic release of emotions, Gunther manages to capture the essence of his son's spirit whilst chronicling the details of his last fifteen months of life. What I found most striking was the pure, noble character young Johnny displayed. He truly was, as Anne Shirley would describe, an angelically good human being. Riveted by science, blessed with a highly intelligent mind, and studious to a fault, Johnny fought valiantly to his last breath. Throughout his horrific ordeal he remained witty and resolute, never once failing to fully live each moment of his life.
April 12, 2013
The book I read was worth reading. This book is about a boy, his name is johnny. Johnny is a sick boy that has trouble in life but is full of joy. Johnny has a brain tumor, although he has a brain tumor nothing stops him from being happy. John Gunther wrote a good book, the story was touching.
My opinion about this book was that it was good. This book was as sad as a crying panda bear. While I was reading I had no more tears to cry I cried all my tears. Also I like the book for its theme. The theme was never give up, the theme is this because johnny never gave up even though he had a brain tumor. I also liked the tone. The tone was inspiring and sad. It was inspiring because the main character johnny never gave up and pushed on, it was sad because he was trying so hard but could never get enough. This is the only book I read by John Gunther and I enjoyed it.I really liked this book and I recommend you read it too.
My opinion about this book was that it was good. This book was as sad as a crying panda bear. While I was reading I had no more tears to cry I cried all my tears. Also I like the book for its theme. The theme was never give up, the theme is this because johnny never gave up even though he had a brain tumor. I also liked the tone. The tone was inspiring and sad. It was inspiring because the main character johnny never gave up and pushed on, it was sad because he was trying so hard but could never get enough. This is the only book I read by John Gunther and I enjoyed it.I really liked this book and I recommend you read it too.
July 10, 2015
This memoir about death is full of life.
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