Reader's Guide: May 2009

	Forward From Here: Leaving Middle Age—and Other Unexpected Adventures by Reeve Lindbergh

In this collection of poignant essays, Lindbergh (No More Words) struggles to extract meaning, and even solace, from an imperfect everyday reality. Heading her list of concerns is her looming 60th birthday and the change and decline that it symbolizes—the departure from home of her children, a benign brain tumor, the therapeutic drug culture that is the hallmark of old age in America. Despite her anxieties and losses, she manages to find in fragile, flawed things—a broken sea shell, a heron that's lost a leg—a kind of beauty...

1. Early in the book, page 20, Lindbergh reflects on the various ages of her life—24, 39, 45. She also writes that when she was very young, she'd lie in bed at night and try to imagine what it would be like to be dead. This seems very strange for someone very young to do. What are your thoughts on this?

2. At the bottom of page 27 is my favorite quote from the book: "The living of a life, day by day and moment by moment, is also wild with joy." Do you like this quote? Do you have a favorite one? Compare this quote to what she writes in the last complete paragraph on page 83.

3. I found her to have a great sense of humor. I especially liked her story on page 32 about the disposing of a loved one's ashes. Find some examples of her humor that you enjoyed.

4. Chapter 8 about clutter—real and in the mind—really struck a chord with me—perhaps because I'm trying to simplify my life both outward and inward. Her statement on page 75—"Too many of us lose the minute-by-minute glory of our own lives as we concentrate upon struggles that were over long ago, or chase elusive dreams set in the future."—makes a wonderful case for living in the now. Which of her chapters had particular meaning for you?

5. What was your reaction to Chapter 9—Brain Tumor Diary? Why do you think she chose this way to tell us about this problem?

6. Relating back to Question 1. Though it's not in the last chapter, I believe that the statements in the last paragraph on page 199 reflect where she is now. Do you think she was at that place when she began the book, or did writing the book take her there?

7. In all of her books, she has shared whatever was going on in her family so a memoir written at this time that didn't include her thoughts on the revelations of her father's other families would not have rung true. What are your thoughts on how she handled this revelation about her father?

8. On page 203 beginning in the next to the last paragraph and continuing on to the next page, she writes about wanting to be honest to herself in her journals and in her writing. Do you think this book reflects this honesty? Why? Why not?