End of Your Life Book Club by Will Schwalbe

If you have ever been in a situation in which someone you care about is dying and you are at a loss as to how to support that person or you have ever been under the spell of a book that "speaks to you" OR BOTH, then this might be for you.  At a minimum, the appendix offers the reader an inspired list of novels, poems and plays to read.

Will's mother has been diagnosed with pancreatic cancer, one of the notoriously difficult-to-treat forms of cancer.  Given long chemo sessions, Mary-Anne and Will spend lots of time together and find books that temporarily "make one enter the 'Can't you see I'm reading?' mode"  and which facilitate communication in the longer term as they provide a way for the two to discuss their own experiences.

Will rarely includes any faults or flaws in his mother's character, though her strong need to control is evident and I find myself wondering where the husband is (some minor mention of his role towards the end of the book).  The intense attachment of the son to the mother and vice versa does seem to me to be a bit OTT.  Am I being harsh?  What do you think?