I will do better a father's memoir of heartbreak, parenting, and love

"The novelist Charles Bock was a reluctant parent, tagging along for the ride of fatherhood, obsessed primarily with his dream of a writing career. But when his daughter Lily was six months old, his wife, Diana, was diagnosed with a complex form of leukemia. Two and half years later, when all treatm...

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Bibliographic Details
Main Author: Bock, Charles (Author)
Format: Books Print Book
Language:English
Published: New York : Abrams Press, 2024.
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Summary:"The novelist Charles Bock was a reluctant parent, tagging along for the ride of fatherhood, obsessed primarily with his dream of a writing career. But when his daughter Lily was six months old, his wife, Diana, was diagnosed with a complex form of leukemia. Two and half years later, when all treatments and therapies had been exhausted, Bock found himself a widower-devastated, drowning in medical bills, and saddled with a daunting responsibility. He had to nurture Lily, and, somehow, maybe even heal himself. I Will Do Better is Charles's pull-no-punches account of what happened next. Playdates, music classes, temper tantrums, oh-so-cool babysitters, first days at school, family reunions, single-parent dating, and a citywide crippling natural disaster-were minefields especially treacherous for Charles and Lily because of their preexisting vulnerability: their grief. Charles sought help from friends, family, and therapists, but this overgrown, middle-aged boy-man and his plucky child became, foremost, a duo-they found their way together. By turns comical and heartbreaking, I Will Do Better does not shy from moments of sadness, anger, or awkwardness. It's the remarkable journey of two defiant and wounded people, and their personal growth in the name of love"--
Physical Description:200 pages : illustrations ; 22 cm
ISBN:9781419774423
Author Notes:Charles Bock is the author of Alice and Oliver: A Novel and Beautiful Children, which won the Sue Kaufman Prize for First Fiction from the American Academy of Arts and Letters. His fiction and nonfiction have appeared in Harper's, The New York Times, the Los Angeles Times, and Slate.

(Bowker Author Biography)