“Too Soon To Say Goodbye” by Art Buchwald

In his final opus, “Too Soon To Say Goodbye,” political/social/celebrity writer and humorist Art Buchwald tells of his failing health, his decision to forgo dialysis after his kidneys fail and his acceptance his inevitable death. He checks into a Washington, D.C. hospice to live out his final days, holding court with his pals, including Ethel Kennedy, John Glenn, the Queen of Swaziland, Mike Wallace, Tom Brokaw and the countless famous celebrities he befriended as a syndicated writer for Vanity Fair, The Washington Post and numerous other publications. He reflects on his life, his personal sorrows and triumphs, and continues to enjoy MacDonald’s hamburgers, milkshakes and all the good-tasting bad food that lead to the stroke and coronary problems necessitating the angiogram which used an X-ray dye that caused his kidneys to fail. Art Buchwald accepts his terminally illness and gets to planning his funeral.

Credit: pencilsona5.blogspot.com

As a bon vivant raconteur who saw society and politics from the inside and was paid to write about them, he has countless stories involving world events and celebrities which have little to do with his impending death, but make for breezy reading. For example, he tells us the story of a column he wrote about how silly his mail is by using an example of someone who wrote to him about dumped by his girlfriend who is a huge Picasso fan. Pretty random. But lo and behold, another friend lunching with Picasso mentions the column, and Picasso grabs a napkin and makes a sketch for his unknown fan. When Mr. Buchwald complained that he was jealous that he didn’t get a Picasso sketch, the artist promptly sent him one.

…he has countless stories involving world events and celebrities which have little to do with his impending death, but make for breezy reading.

Yes, Art Buchwald has had a good life and is ready to move on to the other side, even though his mind is still sharp and his life could be prolonged with a common treatment—one admittedly inconvenient, but used by millions to stay alive. This is probably the most interesting aspect of the book, at least as far as the end-of-life is concerned. When do you say that enough is enough regarding life extending treatments? When is the quality of your life degraded to the point that you decide it is time to move on to the next world, even though you are in fine mental shape and treatments can keep you alive with some quality of life? Buchwald accepts the terminal illness, the inevitable descent into the degradation of dotage.

When do you say that enough is enough regarding life extending treatments?

But as the weeks in the hospice turn into months, he doesn’t die. His kidneys start working again. After organizing his funeral, choosing his eulogizers (including Mike Wallace, Tom Brokaw and Ben Bradlee) and saying goodbye to every celebrity of his era, he doesn’t die. It becomes a joke of sorts, although one can think of many terminally ill people who would trade places in a second.

In fact Art Buchwald’s kidneys eventually did quit and the end came. But after expecting a fairly quick death, the reprieve gave him a chance to squeeze some more humor and another book out of it.

Listen to Diane Rehm interview Art Buchwald on NPR from his hospice in Washington, DC  feb 24, 2006, “The Man Who Would Not Die.”