DREAM NEW DREAMS BY JAI PAUSCH: A REVIEW AND GIVEAWAY

 GIVEAWAY ENDED
DREAM NEW DREAMS

Reimagining My Life After Loss

BY JAI PAUSCH

ABOUT THE BOOK:

A remarkably frank, deeply moving, and inspiring memoir by Jai Pausch, whose husband, Randy, wrote the bestseller The Last Lecture while battling pancreatic cancer.

"Jai is such a giver that she often forgets to take care of herself," Randy Pausch wrote about his wife. "Jai knows that she’ll have to give herself permission to make herself a priority."
    
In Dream New Dreams, Jai Pausch shares her own story for the first time: her emotional journey from wife and mother to full-time caregiver, shuttling between her three young children and Randy’s bedside as he sought treatment far from home; and then to widow and single parent, fighting to preserve a sense of stability for her family, while coping with her own grief and the challenges of running a household without a partner.

Jai paints a vivid, honest portrait of a vital, challenging relationship between two strong people who faced a grim prognosis and the self-sacrificing decisions it often required. As she faced life without the husband she called her “magic man,” Jai learned to make herself a priority to create a new life of hope and happiness—as she puts it, to “feel a spark of my own magic beginning to flicker.”
    
Dream New Dreams is a powerful story of grief, healing, and newfound independence. With advice artfully woven into an intimate, beautifully written narrative, Jai’s story will inspire not only the legions of readers who made The Last Lecture a bestseller, but also those who are embarking on a journey of loss and renewal themselves. 

PRAISE FOR DREAM NEW DREAMS:

“A brave and beautiful book. Dream New Dreams grabbed my heart from the opening page and didn't let go until its uplifting end.  Jai Pausch is a stirring example of the power of life to triumph over any challenge. Bravo.”--Bruce Feiler, bestselling author of Walking the Bible and The Council of Dads

ABOUT THE AUTHOR:

JAI PAUSCH became an impassioned advocate for pancreatic cancer research and caregivers following the death of her husband. Previously, she was director of electronic publications at the Carnegie Mellon School of Computer Science. She is now a member of the National Board of Directors of The Pancreatic Cancer Action Network and the National Comprehensive Cancer Network Foundation.

MY THOUGHTS/REVIEW:
DREAM NEW DREAMS is an emotionally candid memoir from Jai Pausch, the widow of Randy Pausch. Randy was the Carnegie Mellon professor whose bestseller, The Last Lecture, was based on his farewell address at the university. It is a custom that professors do this when they leave CMU. However, in Randy’s case, he gave his speech to his students and coworkers after he found out he had pancreatic cancer and that he was really leaving in a much different way. In DREAM NEW DREAMS, Jai writes what her farewell to Randy was like and how she is working on rebuilding her life each and every day.

Jai Pausch tells of her love story and marriage to Randy and the birth of their children. She honestly describes their lives together, and she doesn’t gloss over her life with Randy even during the two year battle with cancer. He was a remarkable husband and father, without a doubt. However, Randy could also be stubborn and that made dealing with his own mortality often harder on both of them. Trying in his own way to help, Randy often was much too controlling like when he left Jai a list of bachelors who would make good mates for her if she decided she wanted to marry again. One point that tested Jai’s devotion and love was when Randy even suggested they should put their baby daughter up for adoption. Randy’s thinking was to make it easier for Jai with just the two other children while Jai was totally stunned that he would even suggest it.

Having gone through all this with Randy, Jai finds that society needs to realize how hard it is for people to carry on every day while dealing with these kinds of medical issues. Although she and Randy were lucky to have so many friends and family to help, there are so many who have nobody. Jai would like to see some kind of system set up in all oncology centers to be there for the relatives and caregivers of cancer sufferers. Their immeasurable feeling of being overwhelmed makes Jai ask who is helping them.

DREAM NEW DREAMS is beautifully written and Jai Pausch makes a persuasive plea for people to think about how each of us can help make situations like this better. DREAM NEW DREAMS will make you thankful for what you have but also because it is so compassionately written, you will be left with Jai’s positive inspiration. Jai and her children are healing and will always remember Randy as they make a new life for themselves filled with promise just as Randy would have wanted.  

GIVEAWAY

THANKS TO DANIELLE AND THE GOOD FOLKS

AT CROWN AND RANDOM HOUSE, I HAVE ONE

COPY OF DREAM NEW DREAMS TO GIVE

AWAY TO ONE VERY LUCKY FOLLOWER

 
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