Equal parts heartwarming and heart-wrenching, Jonathan Knaul’s Final Approach: A Test Pilot's Story of Caring for Loved Ones details the emotional, physical, and financial complexities of looking after ailing parents. Refreshingly candid, Knaul provides an emotionally profound and practical guide to help others navigate the unglamorous, yet inevitable, realities of aging and illness. All of this is revealed through the experiences of a devoted son and former military test pilot whose chief mission is, in his own words, “to preserve the memory of my family, and to give back to the community (you).” The star of his story is his mother, the “Marvelous Marie,” who comes to feel like an old friend as Knaul intertwines his patient care advice with anecdotes from her life. From crossing bomb-strewn London as a young secretary in World War II to taking immaculate care of her hair later in life, Marie is lovingly immortalized through Knaul’s beautiful prose. Knaul’s key point is that all elder care should be individualized. “You need to know who the person is,” Knaul explains, “to understand the care.” To drive home the importance of really understanding the ones you’re caring for, Knaul provides nuanced portraits of both his parents, including a harrowing reproduction of his father’s experiences as a Holocaust survivor. By welcoming readers into his family’s history, Knaul is able to explore the complexities of the latter years of the parent-child relationship—when roles begin to reverse—in a way that feels both intimate and universally relatable, evoking the stirring depth of an episode of the hit television series This Is Us. While some stories can feel a bit meandering at times, Knaul covers a lot of difficult and emotional material in an easy-to-understand way. His openness and vulnerability let readers know they are not alone, while his logic and emotional detachment, which were required in his long career as a military pilot, help them understand how to make complicated decisions. Knaul provides real-life examples as he delves into Marie’s declining health and evolving care, particularly as it relates to her loss of memory and other challenging symptoms of dementia. Knaul’s complete transparency about the undignified aspects of elder care is eye-opening and his honesty about his own successes and mistakes help pave a path forward for readers who may feel lost. Final Approach is the roadmap you’ve been searching for to help you care for your family—and yourself—with grace, compassion, and dignity. —CANREADS BOOK REVIEW