The half-life of everything

Author

Deborah Carol Gang

Call Number

• FICTION GANG (CEN, OSH, WSQ)

Publication Information

Baltimore, Maryland : Bancroft Press, [2018]

Physical Description

310 pages ; 24 cm

Summary

"Chock-full of ideas and emotions, The Half-Life of Everything looks at one of the aspects of Alzheimer's disease rarely discussed-- sex. With thousands of men and women diagnosed with this cruel disease that robs them of their personalities, we as a society are going to have to grapple with the reality that the patient's partner/spouse will have to live for years without a sexual partner. Is that fair? Can marriage vows ethically be broken under those circumstances, especially if the disease comes on when the couple is as young as their 50s? That's what Gang explores in her novel. David is a decent man who loves his wife, Kate, and stays faithful even after she is hospitalized because of early-onset Alzheimer's. David hadn't meant to be unfaithful, but he falls in love with Jane, a social worker. David and Kate's two grown sons don't know how to deal with this situation, and things become more complicated when Kate begins to return to herself after successful experimental therapy. Can David and Kate return to their happy marriage? What happens to Jane? Will their plan to keep everyone happy really work? As David asks himself, 'What is a married widower supposed to do???'"--Mary Ann Grossmann, Book Editor, The Pioneer Press (Minneapolis-St. Paul, MN).