Some memoirs resemble novels — they build a story with a beginning, a middle, and an ending. The challenge for the writer is to make it interesting for readers who already know the ending. In the case of Truth & Beauty by Ann Patchett, the reader knows from the book’s front flap that it’s about a friendship between two women, one of whom dies prematurely. So why read it? I read it because I love Ann Patchett’s novels, and I believed she would tell us what she learned from this experience. She did. Our quote is the book’s final sentence.
Ann Patchett, Truth & Beauty: A Friendship (Perennial, an imprint of HarperCollins Publishers, New York, 2005), p. 257.