{"product_id":"life-with-sudden-death-isbn-9781582436159","title":"Life with Sudden Death","description":"The youngest of nine children, Michael Downing was three when his father died — suddenly and inexplicably. No autopsy was performed. The family diagnosis was God's will.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eAs a boy, Downing rigorously trained as a spiritual athlete, preparing to vault into heaven. But eventually he escaped the religious dogma, and the family arena — until one of his brothers died in 2003, suddenly and inexplicably. No autopsy was performed.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eAlarmed, Downing pursued a diagnosis: Drawn into a world of researchers, clinicians, and manufacturers with their own arcane ethics and faith, Downing discovered he had inherited a mutant protein from his father, and the first symptom would be his sudden death.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eTo save his life, a defibrillator was hard–wired to his heart. Within weeks, he needed emergency surgery to remove the device and the life–threatening infection he got with it. Two months later, he was re–implanted — only to read in his morning newspaper that the new wires anchored to his heart were prone to failure. His device might be powerless, or it might deliver a series of unwarranted, possibly fatal, shocks.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eFrom a bedeviled boyhood in the Berkshires to a grim comedy of errors in one of Boston's best hospitals, \u003ci\u003eLife with Sudden Death\u003c\/i\u003e is a wild ride.\u003cb\u003eMichael Downing\u003c\/b\u003e's novels include the national bestseller \u003ci\u003ePerfect Agreement\u003c\/i\u003e, named one of the 10 Best Books of the year by Amazon and \u003ci\u003eNewsday\u003c\/i\u003e, and \u003ci\u003eBreakfast with Scot\u003c\/i\u003e, a comedy about two gay men who inadvertently become parents. An American Library Association honor book, \u003ci\u003eBreakfast with Scot\u003c\/i\u003e was adapted as a movie that premiered at the Toronto International Film Festival. His nonfiction includes \u003ci\u003eShoes Outside the Door: Desire, Devotion, and Excess at San Francisco Zen Center\u003c\/i\u003e, hailed by the \u003ci\u003eNew York Review of Books\u003c\/i\u003e as a \"dramatic and insightful\" narrative history of the first Buddhist monastery outside of Asia, and by the \u003ci\u003eLos Angeles Times\u003c\/i\u003e as \"a highly readable book.\" His essays and reviews appear in the \u003ci\u003eNew York Times\u003c\/i\u003e, \u003ci\u003eWashington Post\u003c\/i\u003e, \u003ci\u003eWall Street Journal\u003c\/i\u003e, and other periodicals. Michael teaches creative writing at Tufts University. He and his partner have lived together in Cambridge for more than 25 years.","brand":"Counterpoint","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":46300794159333,"sku":"NP9781582436159","price":16.95,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":false}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/1842\/7735\/files\/9781582436159.jpg?v=1767731448","url":"https:\/\/k12savings.com\/products\/life-with-sudden-death-isbn-9781582436159","provider":"K12savings","version":"1.0","type":"link"}