Tony Stewart

TIMELY TIE-INS

August

• Happiness Happens Month
• World Lung Cancer Day – 1
• National Grief Awareness Day – 30
• We Love Memoirs Day – 31

September

• Self-Care Month

October

• World Hospice and Palliative Care Day – 8

SUGGESTED INTERVIEW QUESTIONS

1. How did you come up with the title, Carrying the Tiger? 
2. Many books deal with grief and loss. What is unique about yours?
3. During Lynn’s course of treatment and your interactions with the medical community, what were some of the more frustrating and gratifying experiences?
4. When did you realize that your CaringBridge posts were the makings of a memoir?
5. Why was it so important to you to keep friends informed throughout Lynn’s and your journey?
6. You’re very open and raw in talking about your grief, something that isn’t easy for many men to express. Why do you think that is, and what do you hope to encourage in other men through your book?
7. What were the challenges in converting the posts into a book?
8. How did you reconcile yourself to the fact that, while this is largely Lynn’s story, it’s your memoir?
9. Why was it important to you to have the arc of the book extend three years beyond Lynn’s death?

PRAISE

“[Tony] Stewart crafts a beautifully devastating memoir honoring his late wife, Lynn Kotula, and their journey of navigating her terminal cancer….In evocative, sometimes joyful prose, Stewart captures the intricacies of not just a losing battle with cancer, but also a love that must flex and adapt to the changing waters surrounding it….From his unique description of Lynn’s treatment to his assessment of her state of mind, Stewart shares milestones passed and lessons learned, continuing his journals long after Lynn passes away. His emergence on the other side comes with hard-won grace and a profound appreciation for the gift of life, making this a remarkable odyssey of learning to ‘live fully in the shadow of death.’”
– Publisher’s Weekly BookLife (Editor’s Pick)

“[Tony Stewart] seamlessly weaves real-life scenes, emails, internet posts, and photographs from his life with Lynn into a varied and intimate narrative. He beautifully describes the couple’s unique relationship, highlighting details like Lynn’s rule that “every kiss had to be a real kiss: Your lips had to be alive.” [and] bravely shares his darkest thoughts, such as, “maybe it would be better if Lynn died sooner rather than later” and “I really missed being able to have sex the way we used to.”
– Kirkus Reviews

“A deeply moving memoir that transforms an intensely personal journey into a universal exploration of love, loss, and resilience….From the intimate details of his wife’s battle with stage IV lung cancer to his own path through grief, Tony Stewart’s Carrying the Tiger will resonate with anyone who has faced serious illness or the loss of a loved one.”
–IndieReader

“Anyone in their own battle against this dreaded disease — whether as a patient or caregiver — will draw hope and inspiration from this account.”
–BlueInk Review

“In Carrying the Tiger, Tony Stewart writes with unflinching honesty about love and loss at the deepest level. Being a caregiver is all-consuming, beautiful, and impossible, and Tony shares it all with the reader. The book is both devastating and hopeful as we accompany Tony through his wife’s diagnosis and illness and his subsequent discovery that joy and grief can live hand in hand.”
—Jessica Fein, author of Breath Taking: A Memoir of Family, Dreams, and Broken Genes

“As an oncologist and cancer survivor myself, I was deeply moved by Tony Stewart’s Carrying the Tiger. Tony captures emotions and experiences that will be familiar to anyone who’s stood by a loved one facing a cancer diagnosis: the frustration of navigating our often-byzantine health care system, the agony of being betrayed by one’s body, and, for caregivers, feelings of sheer, overwhelming helplessness. But here, too, are quiet moments of joy and triumph; this is a work that will strengthen all who read it.”
-Khalid Dar, MD, Oncologist, Mount Sinai Morningside

“Tony Stewart’s Carrying the Tiger is a remarkably attuned rendering of his own and his wife’s experience of her receiving an immediately life-threatening cancer diagnosis, of their search for viable treatments, and of gaining and losing Time. The author deftly assembles a chorus of other voices to accompany his and Lynn’s: doctors, nurses, aides and friends, family and strangers. In so doing, he creates a continuously evolving and evocative picture – quoting from a moment-by-moment blog post that he sustained over several years, along with his retrospective reflections. The result includes intimate, detailed portraits, and a community of differing perspectives moving in synchrony toward a crescendo; a beautiful and very human love story which breathes an extraordinary generosity of spirit.”
– David Newman, author of Talking with Doctors