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The Best Day the Worst Day: Life with Jane Kenyon Paperback – November 8, 2006

by Donald Hall (Author)
4.5 out of 5 stars 106 ratings
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A candid memoir of love, art, and grief from a celebrated man of letters, United States poet laureate Donald Hall

In an intimate record of his twenty-three-year marriage to poet Jane Kenyon, Donald Hall recounts the rich pleasures and the unforeseen trials of their shared life. The couple made a home at their New England farmhouse, where they rejoiced in rituals of writing, gardening, caring for pets, and connecting with their rural community through friends and church. The Best Day the Worst Day presents a portrait of the inner moods of "the best marriage I know about," as Hall has written, against the stark medical emergency of Jane's leukemia, which ended her life in fifteen months. Between recollections of better times, Hall shares with readers the daily ordeal of Jane's dying through heartbreaking but ultimately inspiring storytelling.
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  1. Book 1 of 1
    Best American
  2. Print length
    272 pages
  3. Language
    English
  4. Publication date
    November 8, 2006
  5. Dimensions
    5.4 x 0.68 x 8 inches
  6. ISBN-10
    0618773622
  7. ISBN-13
    978-0618773626
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Editorial Reviews

Review

"An account of her illness, their life together, and the calming landscape of New England...a gem." USA Today

"A bright, wonderful book." --New York Observer

"A fearful and beautiful history." Boston Globe

"Elegantly and lovingly tells the story of their life together." --Christian Century

"Marriage, art, and illness are all treated with wisdom in Hall's account." New York Sun

"Haunting...The language is spare, clean, very readable." --Poetry

"[The Best Day the Worst Day] aims to show us the sacredness of the everyday, the magical qualities of the circle of life...Hall is such an evocative writer." --Book World The Washington Post

"[A] moving portrait of marriage." The Miami Herald

"Hall has turned his pain into art that can inspire and help others deal with loss." The Oregonian

"Hall portrays the creative, peaceful life [he and Jane Kenyon] carved out for themselves...A moving tribute, unsparingly honest." Kirkus Reviews —

About the Author

DONALD HALL (1928-2018) served as poet laureate of the United States from 2006 to 2007. He was a member of the American Academy of Arts and Letters and a recipient of the National Medal of the Arts, awarded by the president.

Product details

  • Publisher ‏ : ‎ Ecco; Reprint edition (November 8, 2006)
  • Language ‏ : ‎ English
  • Paperback ‏ : ‎ 272 pages
  • ISBN-10 ‏ : ‎ 0618773622
  • ISBN-13 ‏ : ‎ 978-0618773626
  • Item Weight ‏ : ‎ 9.9 ounces
  • Dimensions ‏ : ‎ 5.4 x 0.68 x 8 inches
  • Customer Reviews:
    4.5 out of 5 stars 106 ratings

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Donald Hall

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Customer reviews

4.5 out of 5 stars
106 global ratings

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Customers say

Customers praise this memoir as a wonderful love story and moving account of a life well lived together. The book features poetry in prose and conveys both joy and sorrow, with one customer noting how it made them want to reread Jane Kenyon's poetry.

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9 customers mention "Love story"9 positive0 negative

Customers appreciate the love story in the book, with one describing it as a personal love song and another noting how specific it is to the author's life with Jane Kenyon.

"...This book is Hall's very personal love song, written just for Jane. Read it and learn what love is really all about. -..." Read more

"...a life well lived; even while suffering with cancer this was a wonderful love story between two great souls...." Read more

"...Mostly I found this touching book to be an exploration of a husband moving through the process of grief, of holding on, and of letting go...." Read more

"...It is a book stunningly intimate and specific to his life with her and somehow universal too...." Read more

9 customers mention "Pacing"9 positive0 negative

Customers find the pacing of the memoir moving and engaging, with one customer describing it as a testament to a life well lived.

"...Read this book, it will change your life." Read more

"...I highly recommend this book which I feel is a testament to a life well lived; even while suffering with cancer this was a wonderful love story..." Read more

"...marrow transplant with a family member of my own, the subject matter alone was too arresting to fail to cling to every small detail and larger..." Read more

"I really enjoyed this book. They lived a very interesting life being both poets and seemed like a good love match...." Read more

7 customers mention "Writing quality"7 positive0 negative

Customers praise the writing quality of the book, noting its poetry in prose style, with one customer mentioning it made them want to reread Jane Kenyon's poetry.

"...It is well written. It is not too long or too short. Why 3 stars?..." Read more

"...Mr. Hall is an amazing poet - but just as amazing is his prose...." Read more

"Candid. Informative. Tender. Readable. Made me want to reread their poetry. Would recommend." Read more

"This is a beautifully written memoir about the dying of a beloved spouse... and all the memories of a life well lived together." Read more

6 customers mention "Heartfelt content"6 positive0 negative

Customers appreciate the heartfelt content of the book, with one review noting how it conveys both joy and sorrow, while another mentions its companionship in grief.

"...suffering with cancer this was a wonderful love story between two great souls...." Read more

"...: "Poetry gives the griever not release from grief but companionship in grief...." Read more

"...with Jane Kenyon in the context of her death and manages to convey joy and sorrow and ordinariness and achievement on every page...." Read more

"...This book will disabuse you of all thoughts of a loving and merciful God." Read more

3 customers mention "Beauty"3 positive0 negative

Customers appreciate the book's beauty, with one noting it provides a very real picture of Jane Kenyon's life.

"...the horrors of cancer and its various treatments, it is also a very real picture of what makes a good and lasting marriage...." Read more

"...all be so lucky to share in the life of such extraordinary talent and beauty. I highly recommend this read." Read more

"...Throughout, Hall beautifully and matter-of-factly reveals what it feels like when the one you love dies, and what are those threads that carry you..." Read more

Top reviews from the United States

  • Timothy J. Bazzett
    5.0 out of 5 stars Heartbreaking, eloquent and real
    Reviewed in the United States on December 29, 2008
    Verified Purchase
    Although this is so overtly a chronicle of losing a loved one, about the horrors of cancer and its various treatments, it is also a very real picture of what makes a good and lasting marriage. Although Hall and Kenyon knew the odds of their union lasting were very slim, given the 19-year age difference and her bipolar illness, they took the plunge, Hall noting that "all marriages start in ignorance and need; what matters is what you do after you marry." Fifty-five pages later, Hall affirms what makes their marriage last -

    "What we did: love. We did not spend our days gazing into each other's eyes. We did that gazing when we made love or when one of us was in trouble, but most of the time our gazes met and entwined as they looked at a third thing. Third things are essential to marriages ... Each member of a couple is separate. The two come together in double attention."

    He speaks further of what, for them, constituted those "third things" - John Keats, the BSO, children, pets, or Eagle Pond. The twenty-three years Hall and Kenyon had together had their ups and downs to be sure, but in the end love prevailed. This book is Hall's very personal love song, written just for Jane. Read it and learn what love is really all about. - Tim Bazzett, author of Pinhead: A Love Story
    9 people found this helpful
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  • colleen
    5.0 out of 5 stars A very special book, a very special couple.
    Reviewed in the United States on September 21, 2020
    Verified Purchase
    Absolutely one of my favorite books. I reread it at least once a year. I finally replaced my tattered hardcover with a kindle edition and I keep it close to my heart. Read this book, it will change your life.
    One person found this helpful
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  • stuckinthemiddle
    4.0 out of 5 stars If you have gone through a tragic loss of a loved one this story will resonate with you.
    Reviewed in the United States on August 24, 2013
    Verified Purchase
    Having recently lost my best friend to cancer after a 27 month battle, I felt that Donald Hall captured some of the universal feelings we experience when we are mourning the great loss of a loved one. Even though his experiences of living with and losing Jane Kenyon are personal to their relationship, Mr. Hall allowed us to see that living a life with someone special is worth all of the pain and sorrow after their death because we had that special person to love and treasure while they were alive. I highly recommend this book which I feel is a testament to a life well lived; even while suffering with cancer this was a wonderful love story between two great souls. We should all be so lucky to share in the life of such extraordinary talent and beauty. I highly recommend this read.
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  • Myfanwy Collins
    5.0 out of 5 stars "the company of tears"
    Reviewed in the United States on January 5, 2007
    Verified Purchase
    I recently finished reading Jane Kenyon's collected poems which left me missing her and wanting more. And so I picked up The Best Day The Worst Day: Life with Jane Kenyon written by Kenyon's husband--the esteemed poet Donald Hall. While the subtitle of this book is "Life with Jane Kenyon," I would argue that it is not so much about Kenyon's life with Hall as it is about her death, her dying. Yes, Hall does recount memories and vignettes of their life together, particularly how it was they came to live in their beloved farmhouse in New Hampshire.

    Mostly I found this touching book to be an exploration of a husband moving through the process of grief, of holding on, and of letting go. Throughout, Hall beautifully and matter-of-factly reveals what it feels like when the one you love dies, and what are those threads that carry you through to this end, and what are those threads that bind you to this life afterward: "Poetry gives the griever not release from grief but companionship in grief. Poetry embodies the complexity of feelings in their most intense and entangled, and therefore offers (over centuries, or over no time at all) the company of tears."
    10 people found this helpful
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  • Leigh Hough
    5.0 out of 5 stars Life and death and love and poetry in prose
    Reviewed in the United States on October 27, 2013
    Verified Purchase
    This is one of a list of books I visit with regularly, long after reading it the first time. Hall writes about his life with Jane Kenyon in the context of her death and manages to convey joy and sorrow and ordinariness and achievement on every page. It is a book stunningly intimate and specific to his life with her and somehow universal too. It will send you looking for their poetry and make you want to visit their beloved New Hampshire landscape.
    One person found this helpful
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  • Case Quarter
    5.0 out of 5 stars love and caring
    Reviewed in the United States on January 19, 2014
    Verified Purchase
    donald hall began this memoir of his life with jane kenyon with her funeral. she died at the age of 47 of leukemia. when they met, jane kenyon was a student of his at the university of michigan. together, the two of them wrote poetry, spent twenty years as a married couple in the farmhouse owned by hall's maternal grandparents, passed on to donald hall. diagnosed with leukemia, jane kenyon was subjected to a regimen of medications as her body deteriorated. she and her husband traveled across the country to seattle in hope of a successful bone marrow transplant. they lived with hope until they were informed she had a short time to live. a sad and touching conclusion to a marriage filled with love and joy the poet, donald hall, needed to tell.
    6 people found this helpful
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  • Reflective reader
    5.0 out of 5 stars Moving memoir
    Reviewed in the United States on May 28, 2014
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    The story of two poets - husband and wife... she gets leukemia and the couple go through an incredible ordeal to regain health - ultimately unsuccessful. The story is told by the husband with frequent flashbacks to their past in happier times. Sad of course, but reading the book gives insights on life, marriage and illness. It's also quite interesting to learn how the two poets lived and worked together.
    One person found this helpful
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  • SilverFox
    3.0 out of 5 stars Expecting Different Slant
    Reviewed in the United States on January 11, 2015
    Verified Purchase
    I debated between 3 or 4 stars because this is a good book and there certainly is value in it. It is well written. It is not too long or too short. Why 3 stars? I was hoping to read deeper thoughts that a writer or poet might be able to convey (dig deep) on such a subject, but much of the book was about the everyday process and events one goes through in such a situation. And there is value in that for some readers.

    My favorite line in the book came when he speaks of their dating, he says...Neither Jane nor I said "I love you." Maybe both of us feared that "love" was a synonym for "pain"-and we were feeling only pleasure together, light pleasure."

    I was expecting more insight into his inner feelings and less on the medical nightmare process. The rain did pour in their life for a time. It just was not what I was expecting overall…and that is most likely my fault.
    6 people found this helpful
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Top reviews from other countries

  • Kindle Customer
    5.0 out of 5 stars Five Stars
    Reviewed in the United Kingdom on June 12, 2016
    Verified Purchase
    This is a sad but inspiring book to read. Leaves you close to tears at times
    Report