Home Books A Heart That Works

A Heart That Works

A Heart That Works

by Rob Delaney

Spiegel & Grau ·2022 ·196 pages ·Memoir
Top 25 I Index Top 25 Readers
Top of the Pile
Top of the Pile
I Index
94/99
Top of the Pile

90/99

Critics

Top of the Pile

98/99

Readers

n/a

Scholars

96/99

Rating

84/99

Volume

99/99

Rating

96/99

Volume

Sign in to add to your shelf, rate, or review this book.


About This Book

A visceral and deeply personal memoir by the star of the Amazon Prime series Catastrophe , about love, loss, and fatherhood. In 2016, Rob Delaney's one-year-old son, Henry, was diagnosed with a brain tumor. The family had moved from Los Angeles to London with their two young boys when Rob's wife was pregnant with Henry, their third. The move was an adventure and a challenge that would bind them even more tightly together as they navigated the novelty of London, the culture clashes, and the funhouse experience of Rob's fame—thanks to his role as co-creator and co-star of the hit series Catastrophe . Henry's illness was a cataclysm that changed everything about their lives. Amid the hospital routine, surgeries, and brutal treatments, they found a newfound community of nurses, aides, caregivers, and fellow parents contending with the unthinkable. Two years later, Henry died, and his family watched their world fall away to reveal the things that matter most. A Heart That Works is Delaney's intimate, unflinching, and fiercely funny exploration of what happened – from the harrowing illness to the vivid, bodily impact of grief and the blind, furious rage that followed through to the forceful, unstoppable love that remains. In the madness of his grief, Delaney grapples with the fragile miracle of life, the mysteries of death, and the question of purpose for those left behind. Delaney's memoir—profound, painful, full of emotion, and bracingly honest—offers solace to those who have faced devastation and shows us how grace may appear even in the darkest times.


Preview


Reviews

"Delaney recounts the ordeal in searingly honest terms, conveying the intricate cobweb of emotions he experienced ..."

Alice Cary· BookPage Read review ↗ Top of the Pile

"Memoirs by grieving parents obviously have some similarities; what makes the best of them unique is each writer's voice."

Mary Laura Philpott· The New York Times Read review ↗ Top of the Pile

"Sometimes these rapid leaps of register coincide, to powerful effect, with Delaney's swerves through time ..."

Peter C. Baker· The New Yorker Read review ↗ Top of the Pile

"To those who have felt the icy grip of grief around their own throats, it is a relief to read an account of grief that is not a series of hard-won life lessons wrapped in a gratitude journal ..."

Nora McInerny· The Washington Post Read review ↗ Top of the Pile

"People don't appreciate just how addictively wonderful it is to help someone you love, however exhausting, however devastating ..."

Rory Kinnear· The Guardian Read review ↗ Top of the Pile

"Written in beautiful prose that occasionally veers into justifiable rage, Delaney's words are rich with sorrow while also managing the even more astonishing feat of often being legitimately funny ..."

Zack Ruskin· San Francisco Chronicle Read review ↗ Top of the Pile

Reader Reviews

0 reviews

Sign in to write a review.

No reader reviews yet. Be the first!