Sunday book pick: Simone de Beauvoir’s ‘A Very Easy Death’ is a moving memoir about her dying mother
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“Her heart was in excellent condition and her blood pressure was that of a young woman: I had never been afraid of a sudden mishap for her.”
Simone de Beauvoir’s A Very Easy Death, a memoir about her dying mother, is the perfect read if you’re looking to fill a Mother Mary Comes to Me-sized hole in your heart.
An age to die
Beauvoir begins the story of her mother Françoise’s death with the news of her breaking the neck of her femur after a fall in the bathroom. Her neighbours call her daughters, Simone and Poupette, who immediately rush to the scene. Françoise is addressed as maman by her daughters and at 77, Beauvoir reasons that she is of an “age to die.” The hospital stay is longer than they expected, and the nurses help maman to eat, wash, and go to the bathroom. Beauvoir watches a swarm of people attending to her mother. Maman, who used to dress with consciousness, is made to wear nighties and is undressed several times a day as every nurse goes about her duty. Beauvoir is “jarred” by her mother’s nakedness, by how small and vulnerable she is.
Maman, on the other hand, comes to enjoy her time at the hospital. It’s a part...