The Escort

Walking to Eternity With My Brother

Non-Fiction - Grief/Hardship
102 Pages
Reviewed on 03/14/2016
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Author Biography

Terry L. Mills was born in Harlem, New York, and raised in Jamaica, Queens, New York where he attended public schools including P.S. 37, and Junior High School 59. He has travelled extensively having journeyed to Beijing, China, Buenos Aires, Argentina, Morocco, Northern Africa, Costa Del Sol, Spain, Havana, Cuba, Istanbul, Turkey, Manaus, Brazil, most of the islands of the Caribbean, as well as to many of the major cities in the United States. Terry is a professor of sociology having earned his PhD from the University of Southern California, and is interested in intergenerational relationships.

Antonia Mills was born in McCormick, South Carolina, and grew up in New York City. She is a former public health administrator having served on the staff of a major rehabilitation hospital in Florida, as well as on the staff of the Georgia Department of Public Health. She holds a Masters Degree in Gerontology from California State University, Dominguez Hills.

    Book Review

Reviewed by C.J. Anaya for Readers' Favorite

The Escort: Walking to Eternity With My Brother is a very thorough and sometimes heartbreaking look at the steps we must take when a loved one is diagnosed with a terminal illness. This real life experience of authors Terry L. Mills and Antonia Mills covers everything from the grieving process to various reactions that can and do occur when people must prepare themselves for the death of a family member. It also gives some wonderful counsel and advice in terms of hospital care, insurance, hospice, spiritual matters, and legal ramifications, to name a few.

Dr. Mills was also able to clearly express the many stages of his own grief and eventual acceptance throughout the narrative, allowing us to understand what families often endure emotionally, and sometimes physically, in order to facilitate the easiest transition for those getting ready to pass on. I really enjoyed the moments where the author shared earlier experiences of growing up with his brother because this shed light on Elliot's character and gave us a reason to become more attached to him.

I thought that it was wonderful for Elliot's children to have an opportunity to speak their part and share their grief and disappointment at not having their father in their lives. It was important that they come to terms with their father's eventual death and forgive him for the hurt and pain he caused, while also giving him a chance to apologize and show his love for them.

Overall, this is a beautiful, insightful, and informative memoir meant to comfort and assist those through their time of grief and loss while, at the same time, guiding them through the more involved and sometimes overwhelming tasks of getting their loved ones' affairs in order. I highly recommend it to everyone since death is a part of life and most assuredly something we will all experience at one point in our own.