Stuff
Adobe DRM
Product Details
Simon & Schuster, September 2010
eBook, 272 pages
ISBN-10: 143918416X
ISBN-13: 9781439184165
Description
Jesse Cooper was an honor-roll student who loved to windsurf and write poetry. He also had severe cerebral palsy and was quadriplegic, unable to speak, and wracked by seizures. He died suddenly at age seventeen.
In fiercely honest, surprisingly funny, and sometimes heartbreaking prose, Jesse’s mother, Marianne Leone, chronicles her transformation by the remarkable life and untimely death of her child. An unforgettable memoir of joy, grief, and triumph, Knowing Jesse unlocks the secret of unconditional love and speaks to all families who strive to do right by their children.
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Browse Inside Knowing Jesse“This book will break your heart. This book will make you angry. It will make you laugh and cry and cheer. But mostly, this book will lift you up.”
-- Ann Hood, author of Comfort and The Knitting Circle
“In prose so full of life and love and rage and grace it will fill the room where you read it, Marianne Leone tells the story of her son, Jesse. Sorrow and joy are found in the same breath, but grace abounds and justice triumphs.”
-- Abigail Thomas, author of A Three Dog Life
“Knowing Jesse is an incandescent memoir, glowing with a mother’s love for her disabled son and fueled by her righteous anger. With fierce honesty and unexpected humor, Marianne Leone illuminates the challenges of Jesse’s life, the courage with which he faced them, and the joy he brought those lucky enough to know him.”
-- Tom Perrotta, author of The Abstinence Teacher and Little Children
“Knowing Jesse is an important book for any parent to read. The Coopers’ story forces us to face the hard question of whose responsibility it is to speak for children who cannot speak for themselves.”
-- Richard Russo, author of That Old Cape Magic
“Like a master tightrope walker, Marianne Leone avoids any fall here into understandable sentimentality or self-pity. Instead, she has stepped nakedly into the larger human truths of her own story and given us back a life-sustaining feast. Knowing Jesse goes beyond a living portrait of this remarkable boy and his family; it explores the unbreakable blood ties between parents and children, that chosen thread between husbands and wives, and that sometimes hazardous web of other people called bureaucracy. At the heart of all this is a Sufi aphorism that speaks agelessly to the true nature of loss itself, that it has an afterlife where spirit lies. With humor, guts, and grace, Knowing Jesse will carry you compellingly to yours!”
-- Andre Dubus III, author of House of Sand and Fog
“A mother’s passion-filled memoir of her fight to give her disabled son the life he deserved. . . . Love for her son and rage at those who did not see him as worthwhile permeate the narrative, which surprises with its humor and frankness. . . . Leone’s character sketches are deft and humorous, and included throughout are selections of Jesse’s poetry and photographs of the boy with family and friends, attesting to a life that, though short and often painful, was filled with accomplishment, love and joy. Heartwarming.”
-- Kirkus Reviews
“Knowing Jesse's title mentions grief and grace and everyday bliss. Yes, those elements are included. But that’s a fraction of the fun. Yeah--that's right. I said fun. As in funny. This book made me laugh and cry and then laugh again until I was crying with laughter. . . . This kid’s journey is one of a kind and so is this book. Do yourself a favor: buy it, read it, and when you are done--read it again.”
-- Denis Leary, author of Why We Suck and co-creator of Rescue Me
“I was stunned. Stunned and moved to tears. This book is about unwavering courage, unbounded love, and perseverance in the face of adversity. It grabs you by the lapels and takes you on a wondrous, inspiring journey. I couldn’t put it down and I now carry Jesse’s journey in my heart.”
-- William H. Macy
Los Angeles Times, September 7, 2010
...the Making of a New Elite," at Zócalo, held at MOCA. Sept. 30, 7 p.m.: Actress Marianne Leone , author of the memoir "Knowing Jesse: A Mother's Story of Grief, Grace and Everyday Bliss," reads and signs at Book Soup. -- Carolyn Kellogg ...
