BRIEFLY PERFECTLY HUMAN

A poetic, inspiring book about how embracing our mortality allows us to find our deepest selves and truly connect with others.

Arthur has answered a unique calling: helping dying people come to terms with their imminent passing. As a “death doula,” she has helped countless people during the end of their lives, and each of them has taught her something. She trained for the role, but it is her natural empathy that has made her exceptionally good at what she does, whether the dying person is facing the end with calm grace or fighting hard against the failing light. In fact, it is in their final hours when many people are at their best, showing the truth of their souls and accepting the failures, successes, secrets, and regrets of their lives. Arthur also helps bereaved families and friends with both the emotional strain of losing a loved one and the often complex bureaucratic processes of death. Her path to her vocation was not easy, with personal losses, some failed relationships, and a protracted stint of depression along the way. Arthur suggests that these experiences have made it easier to understand and help others, a view that has the ring of truth to it. There is an undeniable poignancy to her accounts of the passing of her clients, although the sadness is often tinged with courage and strength. “With the dizzying serendipity that must occur for us to be born, the fact that we live is a miracle….This is what I wish for all of us: a life that feels like the miracle it is and a death that serves as a period on a satisfying sentence,” writes the author. “Because we live, we get to die. That is a gift.”

Arthur’s powerful memoir underlines the value of every life.