About the book
Journalist John Gunther's 1949 memoir follows his son Johnny through the fifteen months of the brain tumor that took his life at seventeen. Its title comes from John Donne's Holy Sonnet X. The main narrative runs from the diagnosis in the spring of 1946 through a first operation at the Neurological Institute of New York, X-ray treatment, a course of chlormethine and a regimented diet under Dr. Max Gerson, while Johnny kept up his studies in the hope of graduating from Deerfield Academy and entering Harvard. A second part gathers his letters, passages from his diary and a brief essay by Frances Gunther, his mother. Memoirs about illness and grief were uncommon when it appeared.
Ryan Holiday called it deeply moving, and said the Unbeliever's Prayer that Johnny writes midway through could stand beside Epictetus or Montaigne.
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This book has 1 recommendation
Ryan Holiday (Founder/Brass Check)
Written in 1949 by the famous journalist John Gunther about his death of his son–a genius–at 17 from a brain tumor, this book is deeply moving and profound. Every young person will be awed by this young 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 fucking 16 when he wrote it. It’s reading the book for that alone.
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