The Best Day the Worst Day

Donald Hall documents his life with poet Jane Kenyon, focusing on their nineteen years of marriage at Eagle Pond Farm in New Hampshire. The book covers their writing lives, routines, and relationship during both peaceful and turbulent periods. Hall structures the narrative by alternating between chapters titled "The Best Day" and "The Worst Day," creating contrasts between different phases of their shared experience. These parallel accounts show the couple's artistic collaboration, domestic patterns, and navigation of health challenges. Hall employs his background as U.S. Poet Laureate to craft precise observations about marriage, creativity, and loss in rural New England. The memoir reveals universal themes about partnership and mortality while remaining grounded in specific details of farm life and literary work. Through this personal history, Hall explores how joy and suffering exist in constant conversation with each other, and how art can emerge from both extremes of human experience. The narrative demonstrates the power of paying attention to ordinary moments while facing extraordinary circumstances.

Readers describe this memoir as an intimate portrayal of Hall's marriage to poet Jane Kenyon, focusing on their final 15 months together as she battled leukemia. Many readers note the raw honesty about both the joys of their relationship and the brutal reality of terminal illness. Readers appreciated: - The balance between love story and medical narrative - Direct, unflinching prose about grief - Details of their daily life and routines - Hall's ability to capture small moments Common criticisms: - Too much focus on medical procedures - Some sections feel repetitive - Can be emotionally overwhelming Ratings: Goodreads: 4.1/5 (576 ratings) Amazon: 4.6/5 (31 ratings) Reader quote: "Hall manages to write about profound loss without sentimentality or self-pity." - Goodreads reviewer Another notes: "The medical details became exhausting, but his love for Jane shines through every page." - Amazon reviewer

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🌟 Donald Hall wrote this intimate memoir about his 23-year marriage to poet Jane Kenyon, who died of leukemia at age 47 📖 The book's title comes from Emily Dickinson's poem "The Best Day - the Worst Day," reflecting the stark contrasts Hall experienced during Kenyon's illness 🏠 The couple lived and wrote at Eagle Pond Farm in New Hampshire, Hall's ancestral home dating back to 1865 💑 Despite their 19-year age difference, Hall and Kenyon shared a deep literary connection, often writing poems about each other and their life together 🎭 The memoir alternates between chapters titled "Best Day" (depicting their happy marriage) and "Worst Day" (chronicling Kenyon's battle with cancer), creating a powerful emotional rhythm throughout the book