Death for Beginners

Death for Beginners is a lyrical, absurd, wise and heartbreaking memoir about the illness and death of Chris Gerolmo's wife, Joan. Humbled and transformed by the loss of his wife with whom he shared a passionate and sometimes volatile love, and not at all consoled by those who endeavored to comfort him with easy answers, Chris offers his own clear-eyed observations on facing the inevitable reality of death. There is grace in these pages, but there is also struggle, fear and humanity. You will find it hard to shake.

"Chris Gerolmo manages to record his thoughts and feelings with heroic honesty. The result is not only transcendent, but surprisingly funny. You won't forget a single entry, I promise." - Steven Soderbergh, Director "Chris Gerolmo's Death for Beginners is a heart-wrenching, brutally honest, and ultimately cathartic book about losing his wife to cancer. There are lessons for all of us in his pain, the way he coped, and the desperate love he showed for his wife and their children in the face of an incurable disease. The book makes you stop and think-- and even occasionally laugh - about the things we take for granted in our lives, and in the lives and departures of our loved ones. From A to Z, it's a soul-searching chronicle of a death foretold that offers hope, and sustenance, with a remarkable absence of empty platitudes, for all of us." - Bruce Feirstein, Vanity Fair Contributing Editor "This is a small book with a huge heart. The writing is raw, with a depth, intelligence and wit that makes the reader forget the brutal sadness of its subject. It's a beautiful love letter to a dead wife. A cathartic, brutal, honest, infuriating love story." - Christopher Kennedy Lawford, author of New York Times bestselling memoir-Symptoms of Withdrawal "I loved Death for Beginners. I love it for its beauty and horror and power and wisdom. There is nothing else quite like this book which demands to be published, in my humble opinion." - Bruce Eric Kaplan, artist, The New Yorker

Chris Gerolmo is a writer, filmmaker and musician. He wrote Mississippi Burning. He wrote and directed the HBO movie Citizen X. With Steven Bochco, he created and executive-produced the FX series about the war in Iraq called Over There, directed the pilot, and wrote and sang the Emmy-Nominated title song. His first album, I’m Your Daddy, is on CD Baby. His second, Live on Brave New Radio, will be released this summer, as will the 5 songs in this book. Chris lives in Brentwood with his 3 kids, Frank, Samantha and Julia. His step-son Eddy lives with his dad in nearby Malibu.