Dream New Dreams: Reimagining My Life After Loss

Having closely followed Randy Pausch's story from the time he gave the Last Lecture to his book and finally his death, I was really interested and curious to read Jai's story. The book itself is well laid out in simple language and is easy to read. I was happy to learn more about Randy, his personality including his faults. The book is entirely a personal tale of being a caregiver to a terminally ill cancer patient while also being a parent to young children and balancing this act without entirely neglecting your own needs.Like another reviewer pointed out, the Pauschs were financially well off. The way I understand Jai's situation is she had the opportunity (some may say luxury) to some times sweat the small stuff. If putting food on the table or paying medical bills was in the forefront, then survival mode would kick in. Much of the stuff she worried about wouldn't matter at all. There would be no nanny or home cooked meals or house renovation. As a single parent, one would have to even push the grieving aside and get back to work. So amidst this terrible disaster, Randy Pausch and his wife still had a lot in their favor. I fear for the family that faces all of this plus the financial burden.On another note, I am really thankful that the couple wrote these books. The messages in both resonate with me and come across as genuine human experiences. Thanks to her I will remember to always Dream New Dreams.

This book was recommended to me by my therapist after my boyfriend passed away from cancer at the age of 29. It is certainly a powerful story, and I liked how she emphasized what people go through as the caregiver. I am only 31, but I can't imagine anything being harder than dealing with death. Especially when you are trying to balance work with taking care of someone you love who is suffering tremendously.That being said, if you are dealing with cancer, and you are not a parent, I do not believe this book is particularly helpful. I admire her ability to take care of her 3 young children while her husband was battling his disease. I understand why that was primarily her focus, but as this was not my reality, I didn't find that aspect of the book at all relevant to what I went through. I was reading this hoping to learn how to "dream new dreams" but I would say she doesn't even get to that part of her journey until the last third of the book - and again, much of it relates to her moving on as a single parent. I would say if you lost your partner to cancer, and you are now a single parent, this book might help you if you read it while you going through the struggle. I didn't feel like I got as much out of how you pick up the pieces and adjust to your new normal as I was hoping.

The Last Lecture was a special book written by a clearly special man. Behind every great man, there is normally a great woman. Dream New Dreams simply lets us see this great woman's journey to love, honor, respect and care for her husband as their dreams were shattered by cancer. I found Jai Pausch's chronicles to be honest, loving, and inspirational. Her battle between being a mother and a wife at stages when both jobs demanded her physical and emotional strength was palpable, and she does not shy away from her shortcomings and her need to rely on others to do both to the best of her ability at a given moment. A lesson to any who are caring for a loved one who is ill, a lesson to any who feel guilty that they need their "outs" as they do this unexpected and uninvited job. A lesson to any who simply want to trust that unconditional love exists, and that it is worth fighting for even if it takes work and courage to find it in the darkest hour. I cried, I smiled, I now hold my loved ones a little tighter, a little longer. Every second is precious. Take the time to read this book and dare to follow Jai Pausch's ultimate gift to herself and her family: dream new dreams.

The whole time I was reading this book I was thinking - what a lucky couple! Not only did they have excellent health insurance but a close and supportive network of family and friends who came to the rescue - and stayed until the end. And they were wealthy. No foreclosure tales here, no bankruptcy. Just upscale folks dealing heroically with a horrendeous life situation. As nightmarish as this story is, imagine how much more so had Randy not had health insurance to cover the long and expensive chemotherapy he chose. How unspeakable their lives would have been had family and friends not helped out. What unthinkable choices would they have had to make if they did not have the money to cover their living expenses while Randy was out of work? Average people without health insurance, without a strong support network, without money - go through this experience everyday in the United States. It would be interesting if one of their loved ones would write a book. Hurray for Jai still fighting the battle to find a cure for pancreatic cancer. The book is honest and heart-felt. And I hope some thought will go not only to a cure for pancreatic cancer but help for those folks living pancreatic cancer - and their loved ones. No one should have to pick death over financial ruin in the United States of America.

Amazing story very moving and honest

After watching Randy Pausch's amazing "Last Lecture: Achieving Your Childhood Dreams" some years ago, I was looking forward to reading this memoir by his widow and learning how she coped with the devastating loss of her husband, clearly a brilliant, charismatic person, in a few short months. I launched into the read with my editor's cap set aside for the time being, but I wasn't far into the book before I realized that I needed to haul it back on.This book, otherwise well written, suffers from what I call "whitewashing." It doesn't ring true to the depth and range of feelings that had to have been present during the enormously stressful time of her husband's fight to live and his eventual dying. The joys are described, but any shadows are glossed over. It sounds to me like a story that has been polished and trotted out for the public while the private agonies are carefully hidden away and only mentioned rather than relived--which I can certainly understand, but it doesn't make for gripping prose. Or a sense of reality.The story comes across to me as superficial, not so much an examination of the thoughts and feelings of the people involved or the truths they found--or not--from this difficult experience, as it is simply a kind of list of events. Although casual externals are described in detail, there's no real profundity, and therefore there's not much here to grab this reader's continued interest.This woman's desire to honour both her husband's memory and the family's privacy is certainly all well and good, and perfectly understandable. But if that's the case, why write a memoir about it in the first place?I offer three stars for the quality, if not the depth, of the writing. It's by no means junk; it's just not all that interesting.

Found myself looking on other sites to check out previous reviews, many people shared my reservations. I felt like an intruder. I wished that a suggestion regarding his daughter's future made by Randy Pausch in a moment of extreme pressure had never made it onto paper. Think I read the book hoping to find that the author had moved on to create a new life for herself and her children, it was nice to have this confirmed. Could be of some help to people dealing with similar challenges, but my advice would be to look elsewhere.

This was a good sequel to The Last Lecture. I enjoyed hearing how the family coped and also gained a better understanding of grief. Jai does a great job of helping us know how to support the spouse of someone who is dealing with a terminal illness.

Gut, danke!