Do Not Go Gentle: My Search for Miracles in a Cynical Time
This small book tells the story of the search for a miraculous cure, the death of a father and one woman's reconnection with her Catholic roots. Novelist Hood (Ruby; Somewhere off the Coast of Maine) became determined to find a miracle cure when her father was diagnosed with inoperable lung cancer. The product of generations of Italian-American Catholics, Hood followed her penchant for the mystical, leading her to look for signs, interpret dreams and wish for a magic potion. She traveled to Chimayo, N.Mex., where the Tewa Indians believe that the mud is curative and a chapel commemorates the healing miracles that have allegedly occurred there. Hood was looking for an incantation, for anything that would make the tumor vanish. This poignant memoir of grief is also a love story: "My father," Hood writes, "was the love of my life." She loved the way he whistled, the way he smiled, even the way he carried boxes of doughnuts. Unlike many young adults who give up their youthful adoration of Dear Old Dad, Hood only grew to cherish her father more as a grown-up. As she watched him die, Hood (who had become sophisticated, started attending Unitarian and Episcopal churches and even affected a bit of a New England accent) began to "reclaim [her] heritage" of faith and family. This memoir is every bit as breathtaking as the poem after which it is named. (Dec..-- heritage" of faith and family. This memoir is every bit as breathtaking as the poem after which it is named. (Dec.)Copyright 2000 Reed Business Information, Inc.--This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.