My Glory Was I Had Such Friends: A Memoir by Amy Silverstein

Happy 4th!! Hope you are enjoying celebrating today.  I am with a yummy steak and this lovely book:

(Thank you to the publisher and TLC Book Tours for providing me with a copy of this book!)

about book:

In this moving memoir about the power of friendship and the resilience of the human spirit, Amy Silverstein tells the story of the extraordinary group of women who supported her as she waited on the precipice for a life-saving heart transplant.

Nearly twenty-six years after receiving her first heart transplant, Amy Silverstein’s donor heart plummeted into failure. If she wanted to live, she had to take on the grueling quest for a new heart—immediately.

A shot at survival meant uprooting her life and moving across the country to California. When her friends heard of her plans, there was only one reaction: “I’m there.” Nine remarkable women—Joy, Jill, Leja, Jody, Lauren, Robin, Valerie, Ann, and Jane—put demanding jobs and pressing family obligations on hold to fly across the country and be by Amy’s side. Creating a calendar spreadsheet, the women—some of them strangers to one another—passed the baton of friendship, one to the next, and headed straight and strong into the battle to help save Amy’s life.

Empowered by the kind of empathy that can only grow with age, these women, each knowing Amy from different stages of her life, banded together to provide her with something that medicine alone could not.  Sleeping on a cot beside her bed, they rubbed her back and feet when the pain was unbearable, adorned her room with death-distracting decorations, and engaged in their “best talks ever.”  They saw the true measure of their friend’s strength, and they each responded in kind.

My Glory Was I Had Such Friends is a tribute to these women and the intense hours they spent together—hours of heightened emotion and self-awareness, where everything was laid bare. Candid and heartrending, this once-in-a-lifetime story of connection and empathy is a powerful reminder of the ultimate importance of “showing up” for those we love.

my thoughts:

Whoa! What a book! Talk about making me laugh and tear up at the same time.  My Glory Was I Had Such Friends is a truly emotional, heartfelt read.  A memoir about the friendships that really matter in life - the ones that are the epitome of "ride or die".  You know, the friends that you can count on through thick and thin.  The friends that show up when you need them.  These are the friendships that Amy Silverstein explores in her latest memoir, My Glory Was I Had Such Friends. 

At twenty-five, Amy's heart failed her and she had a heart transplant.  Her life changed drastically, but she had a life.  Fast forward twenty-six years later, and Amy (now in her fifties) finds out that her transplanted heart is failing.  She needs another heart transplant.  And so she begins to think about her options and what she wants to do.  Along her journey of coming to a decision regarding her heart and then the waiting for a new heart, we find out about her friendships.  We learn about the women who put their lives and families on hold so that they could be there for their dear friend, Amy.  The women who contacted one another so they could figure out a schedule of who would show up first, second, third, etc., in order to make sure that Amy always had someone with her.  The friends who supported her, disagreed with her, argued with her, listened to her, and didn't listen to her - the friends that bonded with her and grew with her through this beyond intense experience.  Amy shares it all - the good, the bad, and the ugly.  And let me just say it is truly a terrific and engaging read.  Not only do you learn about the depths of friendship through Amy's story, but you also learn about your own friendships.  This is a book that makes you stop and think about the friends you have and the lengths you would go to for them and each other.  I absolutely LOVED My Glory Was I Had Such Friends.

I would happily recommend this book to fans of Amy's first book, Sick Girl - you will devour her latest memoir and love every minute you spend with it!  And I would recommend this book to anyone looking for their next great read. 

Here's the link to the TLC Book Tour schedule for: My Glory Was I Had Such Friends

Thank you to the publisher and TLC Book Tours for providing me with a copy of this book!