Sunday, September 11, 2011

The Grief of Others by Leah Hager Cohen



When John and Ricky Ryrie‘s third child lives only fifty-seven hours they are thrown into a tailspin of grief.  They along with their other children 14year-old Paul and 10 year-old Biscuit strive to continue along normally, almost ignoring the birth and death of Simon.  When Biscuit’s truancy from school and odd antics become an issue, they must all deal with the feelings that have been hidden deep inside.  They realize that they can no longer mourn alone, but must come together to heal.

Ms. Cohen does a great job of wrapping the emotions and difficulties of grief with lyrical prose and an engaging story.  At the end of the book there is an essay she wrote on grief that ends with this question, “Isn’t it a funny and a fine thing to realize that: being whole nearly always requires not just the tending of ourselves, but the tending of our bonds with others?”

I received this book as an uncorrected proof. The final version of this book may vary.

4 Stars (Rated R - Brief explict sex and language)

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