Simone de Beauvoir's "A Very Easy Death" is a profoundly moving and introspective account of her mother's final days. Written with raw honesty and emotional depth, de Beauvoir captures the complexities of love, loss, and the inevitability of death. Her poignant reflections on mortality and the mother-daughter relationship resonate deeply, offering both a personal and universal exploration of grief. The narrative is both tender and unflinching, showcasing de Beauvoir's literary brilliance and philosophical insight. "A Very Easy Death" is a beautifully written, heart-wrenching memoir that leaves a lasting impact, making it an essential read for those seeking to understand the human condition.

A remarkably honest and insightful account of her mother’s death, an exploration of grief and loss. Simone de Beauvoir doesn’t shy away from depicting any of the conflicting emotions that arise at such a difficult time, and it is that conflict that I most related to. The book is raw and yet tender and compassionate and this mix of emotions make it timeless and applicable to any bereavement.

“Everyone knows the power of things: life is solidified in them, more immediately present than in any one of its instants. They lay there on my table, orphaned, useless, waiting to turn into rubbish or to find another identity”.

De Beauvoir (DB) recounts the sombre true events of her mothers last days, whereby she succumbs to a death which despite the title, appears anything but easy. Her final month is tinged with suffering, ‘white lies’ and a plethora of words unspoken between family.

“And is one to be sorry that the doctors brought her back to life and operated, or not? She, who did not want to lose a single day, ‘won’ third: they brought her joys; but they also brought her anxiety and suffering”.

DB tries to creatively navigate the complexities of her and her sisters relationship with their mother through direct statements recounting her heartless behaviour in conjunction with arguably what fuelled her - the constant rejection from her husband. “With regard to us, she often displayed a cruel unkindness that was more thoughtless than sadistic: her desire was not to cause us unhappiness but to prove her own power to herself”. However, whilst DB successfully guides the reader to her mothers frailty and desire to constantly reject her reality in place of better circumstances (both prior and post illness), she fails to conclude the story. The nature of her relationship remains as incomplete after the act has passed as it was before, and she is as uncertain on how she feels for the woman that she watched pass as she was about the woman who raised her all the years before.

I understand the critiques around the book and the consideration that DB intended to capitalise on the situation as soon as it arose, tending to her mothers deathbed with a notebook in hand, but I wonder if her proximity to such a difficult period impacted her capacity to produce a complete story and truly express her emotions.

Thank you to NetGalley for the Arc. This was an important read to reflect on the fragility of life and the power of hope.

A Very Easy Death by Simone De Beauvoir is about her relationship with her mother and the experience of loss.

As much about mother daughter relationships as anything else, this little book about De Beauvoir’s mother’s death is a candid and powerful memoir- at times hard to read but sticks with you.

I've wanted to read this book for a very long time but have put it off due to having lost my own mum to cancer and worrying it might be too close to home. I'm so pleased that I finally picked it up as it was a very cathartic read. This is such an honest and moving memoir of what it's like when your parent becomes terminally ill. The difficulties in negotiating their care, of knowing what to do and how to advocate. The writing is beautiful and it really touched me. I definitely recommend this book.

"I asked myself how one manages to go on living when someone you love has called out to you in vain: 'Have pity on me!' "

"When someone you love dies you pay for the sin of outliving her with a thousand piercing regrets."

"The misfortune is that although everyone must come to this, each experiences the adventure in solitude."

"The doctor said she would go out like a candle."

This masterpiece of Beauvoir is highly philosophical, based on her mother's death, sickness and relationship. There were so many quotes that I have highlighted, especially the second half of the novel made me stop to reflect and think. The translation was so nicely done, my third Beauvoir and definitely more to come.

It’s weird to me to think that I’ve only ever read De Beauvoir in an academic setting, and further to that very fleetingly. Reading her entirely removed from this context, I fell in love.

This is a fantastic, snappy little memoir style book about De Beauvoir’s mothers death - it was achingly realistic and so touching, exploring real and existent feelings we all have, I think, when it comes to the death of a loved one, or indeed ourselves. Is there fear to be had in the process of dying or is it the final act of death itself that should scare us? Should we be concerned with the pain of death, how hard - or indeed ‘easy’, in this case - it will be? De Beauvoir is a beautifully exploratory writer and covers all bases through the experience of her mother’s death. To me this book shouldn’t be read lightly; I found it somewhat gruesome, quite deeply uncomfortable and upsetting for certain. You have to be in the right space of mind to pick this up. However I do think it’s one of those essential, read this before you die books - it provides a comfort? a realism? I’m not quite sure yet how I would phrase the effect it had on me, which for it’s length was quite impressive. Really gets you thinking. I will without a doubt be picking up another Simone De Beauvoir work before the year is out.

In this astonishing essay, De Beauvoir chronicles the last few weeks of her mother’s life; a short period of time impossibly drawn out. De Beauvoir remains characteristically unflinching throughout, ruminating on the idea of losing the mother she has always known, while reflecting on the dying woman in front of her whom she has “grown very fond of” over the course of her death. In this exploration, De Beauvoir perfectly captures the fleeting kinship and ardent respect that can occur between a mother and her child that have previously never been emotionally close.
De Beauvoir writes passionately on the harsh medical atmosphere in which the healthcare providers seem to have no regard for her mother’s dignity in death.
Ali Smith’s introduction contextualised the essay in the present day beautifully, pointing to the harrowing reality that when it comes to dying in a medical facility, the same horrors of miscommunication and alienation explored in De Beauvoir’s essay continue to be experienced today.

A stunningly nuanced essay that I think would provide insight and comfort to many readers.

Thank you so much to the publisher for the e-arc, I’m ever so grateful.

This is a day by day account of the death of Simone de Beauvoir’s mother after she’s admitted to hospital after a fall. Then they discover she has bowel cancer. Thoughts about her mothers life and relationship with her daughters, life and death etc. I found it interesting that the dynamic between doctors and patients and their families is still very similar.

This reprint by Fitzcarraldo Press, complete with an introduction from Ali Smith, was a fascinating journey for me.

Surprisingly spare and economical, I found myself racing through de Beauvoir's meditations on grief and death, and how these facets of human life that are so natural can feel at the same time alienating, unsettling, and mundane.

Ali Smith's introduction adds an additional level to this book, giving it a modern lens and a new way to appreciate it.

I received an advance copy of this book from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

This book was perhaps not the best place to start with Simone De Beauvoir. Despite it being personal, and there are some intimate details, I did not feel a connection as I was reading it.

A Very Easy Death is a short position full to the brim with emotion. It’s a very private and personal account of the last days of Simon de Beauvoir’s mother’s life. Let me add that her death wasn’t exactly easy.

It is a touching book, presenting the mother-daughter relationship and the author’s feelings while watching her mother wither away. I was shocked by the raw honesty of this account. It’s one of the books you do not forget.

I'm familiar with Simone de Beauvoir's works, having studied French literature including The Second Sex and Les belles images. These being much more philosophical and socio-political texts, I was intrigued to see what a short memoir by the same author would read like.

In a coincidental and slightly twisted ploy of fate, this is the fourth book I've read in the past thirty days that explores terminal illness and/or death - and on the same day I learn a family member has been diagnosed with cancer. Mortality is at the forefront of my mind.

This short memoir chronicles the decline of de Beauvoir's mother following her hospitalisation with spare prose that reflects on mortality, love and, of course, the very difficult nature of death.

I had not expected de Beauvoir's honesty to be quite so stark in portraying the primal realities of hospital life, care and physical decay. The moment of her mother's death, for instance, is an unsettling witness and counter-testament to the myth of a painless bed death. Who are we to be privy to someone's final moments as they even then gasp for life?

Arresting, contemplative and deeply profound, A Very Easy Death is a powerful memoir from one of France's greatest writers.

Thanks to Editions Fitzcarraldo and Netgalley for the advanced reader copy in exchange for an honest review.

Not quite sure if I feel entirely comfortable reviewing an extremely sensitive and personal collection of essays such as this, but I think this is surely the kind of writing/literature that should be read by all, at least once if not twice or more. Simone de Beauvoir's writing is spectacular as usual, and surprisingly, in the best way, the translation work by O'Brian is absolutely flawless. I thought Ali Smith's intro to the text was perfectly complementary. I can see why this particular work of Simone de Beauvoir has been compared to Albert Camus' 'L'Étranger'. Don't think I can go into a discussion about it without risking some spoilers, but it's interesting to me how one is a work of fiction and the other isn't, yet there is so many, or rather too many ideas in both that overlap. I highly recommend reading both.

A very powerful and gripping story that is difficult to read in some parts but worth sticking with. The E-Book could be improved and more user-friendly, such as links to the chapters, no significant gaps between words and a cover for the book would be better. It is very document-like instead of a book. A star has been deducted because of this.

This is a first for me by the author and one I enjoyed and I would read more of their work. The book cover is eye-catching and appealing and would spark my interest if in a bookshop. Thank you very much to the author, publisher and Netgalley for this ARC.

'When someone you love dies you pay for the sin of outliving her with a thousand piercing regrets.'

This is a deeply human and affecting story of the final days of Simone de Beauvoir's mother, replaying their sometimes uneasy relationship as both women come to terms with what is to come. It's one of those books that, as hard as it can be at times to read, is important and will be returned to when it becomes necessary. De Beauvoir writes with such precision and skill that, even though this is a short book, it is utterly heartbreaking.

This new edition comes with an introduction from Ali Smith, which is an equal joy to behold. She writes:
'My mind reels with this book's viscerality, its spirit, its knowledge and its mystery.' A perfect summation.

Essential reading. 5 stars.

(With thanks to the publisher and NetGalley for an ARC of this title.)

“A Very Easy Death” – Simeone de Beauvoir (translated from French by Patrick O’Brien)



My thanks to @netgalley and @fitzcarraldoeditions for a copy of this in exchange for an honest review, this one is out on the 28th June.

I’ve become slightly concerned by my clear interest in French authors chronicling their mothers’ deaths. After “I Remain in Darkness”, Annie Ernaux’s account of her mother’s Alzheimer’s, I’ve now stumbled across this slim account, again published by #fitzcarraldoeditions. Both are deeply personal and emotional accounts, even though the stories are quite different.

Beauvoir’s book deals with the last few moments of her mother’s life, told in an emotional yet not sentimental style, clear-eyed in many ways about the struggles of, well, dying. The “very easy death” is in fact very drawn out and painful, full of false hopes and false ends, all told in direct style by the author.

As someone who has never read Beauvoir, this made me want to discover more. I really liked her style of writing, keen-eyed for detail and with nods to the wider world of poverty and privilege that exist outside her bubble of hospitals. What I personally took away from the book was a real sense of fundamental failings in the medical system at that time, and perhaps even now. Beauvoir’s mother is misdiagnosed, arrogantly treated by medical staff, and subjected to several invasive and painful medical procedures, all of which her family are powerless to stop, all for the sake of prolonging her life a few months. It will be a tough read for many, and anger-inducing for others.

Ali Smith’s introduction helps set the place for this book – Beauvoir was accused of seeking to profit from her mother’s death on its publication, proving hugely controversial at the time. 60 years on, I found it an engrossing read, full of intelligence, and a worthy addition to your bookshelf.

Beauvoir's writing is incredible as usual - this raw, unflinching but sensitive account of her mother's death was both enthralling and heartbreaking. Beauvoir's storytelling makes this depressing topic a very illuminating read that is surprisingly easy to fly through.

A Very Easy Death is a masterpiece.

My first time reading Simone de Beauvoir’s work. I was struck by how beautiful, raw, intimate, unflinching, timeless it was. I can see myself revisiting this many times in future.

This edition has an introduction by Ali Smith, which places the work in its historical context and provides insight. As ever, the way Smith expresses herself is a treat for the reader.

Certainly this will be the edition I purchase for myself.

Pick up this book up if: you’re looking for literary meditations on death, societal expectation and the mother-daughter relationship (even if you’re not, pick it up - it’s only about 100 pages!)

Thank you to NetGalley and the publishers for an ARC in exchange for my honest review.