The Violet Hour

 Book 75 of my 2024 Reading Challenge

read from September 28 - October 2

The Violet Hour: Great Writers at the End

by Katie Roiphe

My Opinion

4 stars

I've never read a book with this concept before.  I thought it was going to be writers writing about death but it was how different writers actually met the end of their life.  Some fought, some seemed to help it along, but they all seemed compelled to document it in some way.  It was interesting that even if they didn't "know" it was their time, they all seemed to know on some level.  That could be intuition or it could be people looking for answers and putting pieces together after the fact, like an innocent statement about their time coming that would've been ignored if they hadn't died.

Even though I was incredibly interested I also had concerns going in about privacy and respect; just because they were famous doesn't mean their most intimate moments should be shared.  However, the author calmed my concern almost immediately with her words about how she approached the topic and after reading the book, I will say the book isn't sensationalized or graphic.  She also interviewed relatives/friends when available.

It's a niche subject but if you're interested, the book is good.

Quote from the Book

"But here's what I learned from the deaths in this book: You work. You don't work. You resist. You don't resist. You exert the consummate control. You surrender. You deny. You accept. You pray. You don't pray. You read. You work. You take as many painkillers as you can. You refuse painkillers. You rage against death. You run headlong toward it.

In the end the deaths are the same. They all die. The world releases them."