Author Straub provides the impetus for his book by relating to readers ‘this is not a story about death, it is a story about the ultimate answers concerning life and its relation to death.
Straub goes on to explain ‘these answers came to me by way of these two unrelated but remarkable events.’
Part one: Spring Corridors – Life as It Was sets the work in motion. In Chapter 1 The Family & Towns familiarizes the reader with significant players: the author and his family. Since he and his family are not the focus of the story the section is not long. Subsequent to the death of writer Staub’s mother; his father remarried bringing a step mother and step sisters into the family mix.
Barbara Jane Schartz, Writer Straub’s mother, is one of the key players and she is presented in greater detail.
Two Kansas towns, Ellinwood and Great Bend are the setting for much of the work. Christmas with the Schwartz’, Death and the struggle for survival, The Phoenix and growth through the Ashes, and Death and Transformation round out Part One.
Part Two Life Lessons are the focus of Summer Corridors. The author relates that these are the corridors meant to lead us to believe that all things are possible.
The Autumn Corridors, Part three bring Death and The Final Lessons. The Planned, Expected Death, the Bad Death and Life in Retrospect are presented in this section.
Part Four: The Winter Corridors is where we find The Eulogy. The writer encourages readers to write our own.
On the pages of Autumn Corridors Writer Straub encourages readers to accompany him in a two decade pursuit as he journeys the "corridors of life", locating answers to some of life's most problematic questions. He searches for solutions to ‘When so much seems beyond our control, how can we control our lives? Why bad things happen to good people? Why we live and Why we die? And why is it important that we accomplish both well?’
Reading Writer Straub’s anecdote recounting the experiences he experienced during his mother’s illness and passing made for compelling reading. Straub, a teenager when his mother died, realized, of course, that she had been ill for many months. Nevertheless, he clung to hope that the inevitable would not become reality.
It was a priest at the hospital who took the youngster in hand to help him face the sad certainty that his mother would be leaving earth and would not be coming back. On the other hand, he came to understand that shared memories would keep his mother alive.
Straub discusses divorce in Part Two: Lesson 4. ‘Some marriages are not healthy and need to end, for the sake of not only the couple themselves, but ultimately for the children involved.’ The opposite side of that coin, in the writer’s opinion, is the realization that many marriages could be recovered if the individuals involved would put the requirements of their family’s continuing future over their own immediate short-range needs.
Autumn Corridors with a table of contents at the beginning is easily read, is separated into chapters as well as lessons and holds life lessons that may help to assist those who are facing demise of a loved one in their own lives. Autumn Corridors is a tome sure to prove a dandy addition to the individual reading list, or the therapists’ book shelf as well as personal or public library collections.
Compelling read, happy to recommend.
For the review I received a hard bound copy from the publicist.
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Reviewed by: Molly’s Reviews
molly martin
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Amazon About the Author
Larry Straub is Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of Straub International. He earned both an MBA and Master of Science degree and is an adjunct professor of business for two Kansas universities. Larry and his wife Julie reside with their two children in Salina, Kansas.
Amazon Product Details
TITLE: Autumn Corridors
Genre: Inspirational
Author: Larry G Straub
Publisher: Bridgeway Books
ISBN-10: 1933538686
ISBN-13: 978-1933538686
