Randy Pausch was the Carnegie Mellon professor whose The Last Lecture, based on a farewell address to students and colleagues after being diagnosed with pancreatic cancer, became a smash bestseller. Now his widow, Jai Pausch, tells her story: Dream New Dreams is an exceptionally written memoir that details her struggle with watching the love of her life painfully slip away while she was left to rebuild.
Jai's memoir is not a tell-all, nor does it sugarcoat the reality of living with Randy--a brilliant and loving, yet stubborn, dying man. What's clear, though, is Jai's utter love and devotion to her husband and devastation at his death. What's also clear is that Randy, who became a inspiration to many readers in his final days, was no saint. She reveals that he had the audacity to suggest that she give up their infant daughter for adoption--it was his attempt to make her feel less overwhelmed by raising their other two children after his death. He also left a list of eligible bachelors for Jai if she ever considered remarrying.
Although startling, it's perversely comforting to hear these humanizing things about Randy, because they make the unfair death of a man in his prime with a young family somehow more palatable. Jai's voice is so heartwrenchingly real that Dream New Dreams will resonate with anyone who has ever acted as a caretaker, lost a loved one or loved deeply. --Natalie Papailiou, author of blog MILF: Mother I'd Like to Friend