The Long Goodbye, Losing Love to Alzheimers by J. Mike Oliver,  is a short story about the journey his mother went on when she was losing her husband to Alzheimer’s.   

J. Mike Oliver was kind enough to send this short story to me, including a personal letter explaining how important this short story was to him and his family.  I knew upon opening the package that this story was going to make me cry, and I was 100% correct! 

This was not a long story, and only delved into a moment in time in Jo Anne’s life after finding out her husband has Alzheimer’s.  She has lost her partner, her best friend, the love she has shared her life with to his own mind, and with losing him, she is also losing herself. 

I really liked that the short story did not focus on the infinite amount of bads that are happening within this book, because there are so many of them.  I have been with my husband for ten years and I cannot imagine having him look at me and not know who I am or what I was to him.  I appreciated that J. Mike Oliver took us to a moment in time where Jo Anne was taking the time to exist as a person again without the weight of guilt pressing down on her. 

I knew how this book was going to end.  Let us be honest, we all know that how this story is going to end.  Her husband Joseph is not going to live, and she will have to find herself again in an entirely new life.  But the way it came right after she started to find herself was almost a physical blow.   

I don’t know how much of this short story is fact or fiction, but I don’t know that it really matters.  Even if there is fiction in this story, it is someone else’s truth that they are struggling with and coping with. 

Overall – This was a heartbreaking short story and I highly recommend being prepared when you go into this reading this, but it is worth reading.  It isn’t often I read a book filled with grief, joy, and empowerment in only 44 pages. 

The Long Goodbye, Losing Love to Alzheimers by J. Mike Oliver 

 
Cost* – eBook is $3.99, paperback is $6.99. 

 
*Cost is based upon what the book cost when book review is published