Review by Jenniferg_1105 -- Honest Endings

Jennifer Garcia 555 · Post by **Jennifer Garcia 555** » 12 Feb 2021, 21:52

[Following is a volunteer review of "Honest Endings" by Katherine Cullen.]

4 out of 4 stars

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The book Honest Endings by Katherine A. Cullen, M.S.W. is the story of Katherine’s three years working as a licensed clinical social worker for a nonprofit hospice agency. Katherine tells the emotional tale of helping patients and their families deal with death. Despite her many years of experience as a social worker, Katherine described her first eight months working in hospice care as stressful and sad. She cried often and shared these heart-wrenching stories with her husband. With a serious lack of support at work, Katherine started to write her experiences in a journal. She used that journal to write this book. She includes her struggles, the changes that happened within her, and all that she learned from her time at the hospice agency, in hopes that it might help others.

I really enjoyed this book. Katherine tells her very emotional story openly and honestly. She speaks of her mistakes and her successes. She talks about the patients that affected her the most. One such case was her twenty-four-year-old patient, Tanya, who had leukemia and was delusional. She did not have a peaceful death, and the girl’s parents were traumatized by her death. Though sad at times, I feel there is a lot to learn from this book. Katherine has a unique perspective of death since she dealt with it every day for years. She says that the job was very difficult emotionally, but it changed her for the better. Her experience also helped her to deal with her own aging parents. I feel that it would be very helpful to have this insight when dealing with a death in your family.

There is nothing I did not like about this book. The author told her story honestly and clearly. The stories she added in from her patients, and from her own family, made it feel very personal. The way she explains all that she gained from such a trying time in her life is inspiring. She struggled with self-doubt and emotional pain but fought her way through. She speaks of how honest people become at the end of their lives, and how they would tell her their deepest darkest secrets. Personally, I deal with many families in my current job, and I could not imagine trying to help families deal with the death of a loved one.

I rate this book 4 out of 4 stars. I did not find any errors. It was very well-edited. There is no profanity or sexual content, and it was a well-written story I couldn’t put down. There is some talk of religion, but it is a small part of the story. This book is short, but the author had a lot to say within the five chapters it contains.

I highly recommend this book to social workers, hospice workers, medical professionals, or anyone thinking of going into a similar field. This book could also be helpful to anyone that has a family member in hospice care.

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Honest Endings
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kdstrack · Post by **kdstrack** » 14 Feb 2021, 20:54

This seems like an emotional book. Death is a topic most people don't deal with well. Reading the author's stories can help prepare us, and others, to face this moment. I enjoyed your insights and honesty about how the book affected you. Thanks for the thoughtful review.

Kasun Perera · Post by **Kasun Perera** » 15 Feb 2021, 02:20

Death bed experiences and death bed stories can be unique as well as facinating. This book seems an interesting read. Thanks for the nice review

NetMassimo · Post by **NetMassimo** » 15 Feb 2021, 02:34

A difficult job that unsurprisingly takes its toll on people like Katherine A. Cullen. Her memoirs are certainly interesting to understand how they do it and cope with it. Thank you for your great review!

Mtibza eM · Post by **Mtibza eM** » 15 Feb 2021, 03:30

Great review. It was straight to the point.

Chizioboli · Post by **Chizioboli** » 15 Feb 2021, 16:37

The one detail that drew my attention is that this book is borne from journaling about how she felt thus giving rise to thus great book that is impacting lives. Thank you for reading and reviewing this book so well.

Jennifer Garcia 555 · Post by **Jennifer Garcia 555** » 18 Feb 2021, 12:36

Chizioboli wrote: ↑15 Feb 2021, 16:37 The one detail that drew my attention is that this book is borne from journaling about how she felt thus giving rise to thus great book that is impacting lives. Thank you for reading and reviewing this book so well.

It is clear from the writing that this was a very emotionally trying time for the author. I am glad she was able to share it. Thank you for your comment.