Promise Me Dad: A Year of Hope, Hardship, and Purpose

I read a solid amount. Some books are easier than others to review. I try to review the books in the order that I read them. But sometimes, I hit a difficult review and it starts to delay me. I’m now five books behind. But Joe Biden’s book is an easy one to review because 1) I’m just going to tell you up front, “Read the book,” and 2) this book isn’t about politics, or partisanship, or a call to promote what Obama and Biden did while they were in office: this book is about love. It’s about Joe Biden’s love for his son Beau who passed away from brain cancer in 2015. It’s about Biden’s love for his family—his children, his grandchildren, his wife, his siblings, his in-laws. Last but not least, this book is about Biden’s love for his country, the United States of America, where he served public office for over four decades.

At times Promise Me, Dad is heartbreaking—yes, you will cry—and, at other times, the narrative is uplifting. Biden’s courageous ability to go on in the face of his devastating losses inspired me. When Biden was a freshman senator from Delaware, his wife and three children were in a tragic car accident. His wife and infant daughter were both killed. His two young boys spent a month recovering in the hospital. Rather than disappear from public life, Biden persevered, eventually remarried, and raised his boys and second daughter while continuing to serve Delaware as Senator in the U.S Congress. In 2013, Biden’s oldest son Beau was diagnosed with brain cancer. Joe Biden wrote this book for him.

Promise Me, Dad covers Biden’s journey with Beau through his cancer treatments while fulfilling his duties as the Vice President of the United States. I respected Joe Biden a great deal before reading this book. My respect for him now is off the charts. If you don’t know much about Joe Biden, or disagree with his politics, don’t let that keep you from reading Promise Me, Dad: A Year of Hope, Hardship, and Purpose. His love for family, country, and democracy are irrefutable. In the end, isn’t that exactly what we ask of our public servants?

The above review was originally posted on Jason’s website, jasonsquirefluck.com.