Cancer is such a pernicious disease. There isn’t one of us who hasn’t been touched by it, or knows someone who has. Joe Biden’s book, Promise Me, Dad: A Year of Hope, Hardship, and Purpose, is the story of the year the Biden family stood with Beau Biden as he fought for his life, battling cancer. But, it’s also the story of a year as Vice-President as Joe Biden pushed his schedule to be so full that he could forget for short periods of time what his son was going through.
Beau Biden, Joe’s oldest son, survived the car crash that killed his mother and little sister. He survived his service in Iraq. He was in his second term as attorney general for Delaware with ambitious plans to run for governor, and, maybe someday president. In 2014, he and the family learned he had a brain tumor. And, it was glioblastoma, Stage IV, and not curable. But, if anyone was going to fight cancer and win, it was going to be Beau, with his family, especially his brother, Hunter, by his side.
Biden himself juggled his time between trips to various hospitals to be with Beau, and the business of being vice-president. During this period, that meant dealing with problems in the Ukraine, Iraq, and negotiating with Central America. It also meant eulogies at funerals, and visits to troubled cities. Biden admitted he needed to keep busy. And, in this same period of time, he had to weigh his options. Was he going to run for president? If Beau and Hunter had been by his side, the answer would have been yes. When Beau Biden knew he wasn’t going to make it, he pulled his father aside. He knew Joe had the ability to sink into darkness. He knew his father needed a purpose in life. “Give me your word, Dad, that you’re going to be all right. Promise me, Dad.”
This really isn’t a book of what if. Joe Biden knew he didn’t have the heart to run in 2016 after Beau’s death. It isn’t a “what if Joe Biden had run for president book”. It is a thoughtful, moving book about a year of fighting for survival, physically and emotionally. It was a tearjerker. I started the book with tissues in my pocket, and I needed them.
For some of us readers, it is a book of regret. Joe Biden says, “I have come to believe that the first duty of a public servant is to help bring people together, especially in crisis, especially across different divides to show respect for everybody at the table, and to help find a safe way forward.” It’s hard to not wish things had been different, for Beau Biden, for the family, for the country.
Promise Me, Dad: A Year of Hope, Hardship, and Purpose by Joe Biden. Flatiron Books, 2017. ISBN 9781250171672 (hardcover), 260p.
*****
FTC Full Disclosure – Library book
Nice.
If only, right? That family has been through so much over the years.
Lots of if onlys with this book, Jeff. Yes, that family has not had an easy time of it. He mentioned the Kennedys' trials, but said his was on a much smaller scale. He's such a humble person.
Thank you. I have now put it on my library list.
This one is a tearjerker, Gram.
I know you spammers don't care, and you may not even read English, but my husband died of cancer, and I don't appreciate it when you add inane comments or advertisements to my blog comment area. I will continue to delete them.