Title: Losing Mum and Pup
First published: 2009
Description: In twelve months between 2007 and 2008, Christopher Buckley coped with the passing of his father, William F. Buckley, the father of the modern conservative movement, and his mother, Patricia Taylor Buckley, one of New York's most glamorous and colorful socialites.  He was their only child and their relationship was close and complicated.  Writes Buckley:  "They were not - with respect to every other set of loving, wonderful parents in the world - your typical mom and dad."  As Buckley tells the story of their final year together, he takes readers on a surprisingly entertaining tour through hospitals, funeral homes, and memorial services, capturing the heartbreaking and disorienting feeling of becoming a 55-year-old orphan.  Buckley maintains his sense of humor by recalling the words of Oscar Wilde: "To lose one parent may be regarded as a misfortune. To lose both looks like carelessness."  Just as Calvin Trillin and Joan Didion gave readers solace and insight into the experience of losing a spouse, Christopher Buckley offers consolation, wit, and warmth  to those coping with the death of a parent, while telling a unique personal story of life with legends.
Subjects: Last years, Death and burial, Death, Eltern, Family, American Authors, Parents, Psychological aspects, Family relationships, Autobiographie, Authors, American, Humor (Nonfiction), Nonfiction, nyt:hardcover-nonfiction=2009-05-17, New York Times bestseller, Buckley, william f. (william frank), 1925-2008, Authors, biography, Death, psychological aspects
People: William F. Buckley, Christopher Buckley (1952-), Christopher Buckley, William F. Buckley (1925-2008)
Time periods: 20th century
LC classification: PS3552.U3394 Z46 2009