Montemarano painstakingly documents the final 10 days of his mother's life and of the desperate efforts made to save her...He describes not one, but two 'end-of-life' visits, when he is invited to the hospital to spend an hour with his dying mother, but is assured he can 'take a little longer if you need/ no rush'...Even after the first of these visits, there are moments of hope, when Montemarano and his twin sister, herself a nurse, cling to the belief that if their mother can continue to do her breathing exercises diligently, there is a chance she'll beat the odds and come home to her husband...But in the end, those glimpses of what recovery might look like are extinguished by the disease's relentless course...The mingled feelings of powerlessness and grief Montemarano experiences as the end of his mother's life approaches will be familiar to anyone who has been with a loved one in the final days of an implacable illness...If There Are Any Heavens is a book whose substance and form match perfectly...Though his story is specific--a description of only one death among more than a million--his eloquence transports it to the realm of the universal.

Novelist Montemarano presents a unique personal perspective from the height of the COVID pandemic in the United States, which he equates to a '1950s science fiction movie'...Most of his family has contracted the virus, and he takes precautions to protect his parents from the illness, going so far as to remind them that 'hugs could kill'...Unfortunately, both of his parents eventually contract the virus, and his mother in particular becomes critically ill with pneumonia and requires hospitalization...This account is written in an unusual style that combines aspects of memoir, stream-of-consciousness narration, and poetry...Montemarano’s unique literary memoir offers an absorbing, visceral experience of the pandemic and should easily find a dedicated audience.

Award-winning novelist and short story writer Montemarano chronicles his 79-year-old mother’s last days as she struggled to overcome Covid-19...At the end of 2020, she developed a cough and fever and was quickly hospitalized when her oxygen levels dropped...On Jan. 6, 2021, after an urgent call from his sister, the author left his wife and son in Pennsylvania to drive to Elkhart, Indiana, where his parents and sister lived...All around him swirled remarks by Covid deniers ('this is just made up by Bill Gates'), anti-maskers, and a president who insists that the virus 'is going to disappear'...While their mother remained in a 'wait and see / precarious / critical' condition, he and his sister constantly researched treatments online and talked to people about what they should do...Finally, a physician gave them incontrovertibly bad news: Her lungs were destroyed...Wearing protective gear, Montemarano and his sister witnessed their mother’s last hours, grateful that, unlike many others, she did not die alone...A poignant elegy for a beloved mother.