hi, friends. very recently experienced the loss of a beloved friend very suddenly and am having a hard time coming to terms with the immeasurable grief I currently feel and when trying to find something to help me come to terms with this, all I can find is self-help “it’ll get better in time” which is not helpful for someone who feels like the world is about to swallow them whole.
I guess what I’m looking for is a book that can put into words how I feel.
thanks in advance 🙂
by alterofakrasia
14 Comments
The Grieving Brain by Mary-Frances O’Connor
My Year of Magical Thinking by Joan Didion might fit your request.
I have two slightly different recommendations that both helped me with different types of grieving.
Crying in H-Mart by Michelle Zauner. This is a memoir about her life and the loss of her mother. Her relationship with her mother and with grief are complicated and I think relatable to a lot of people even if your situation isn’t exactly the same.
Tuesdays with Morrie by Mitch Albom. This is a memoir about a man who is very good friends with an older gentleman who has been diagnosed with a terminal illness. The old man discusses life and death and everything in between with the perspective that his time is coming to an end. It is sad but I have found it to be comforting in dark times.
Good luck to you. I’m sorry for your loss.
She Is a Haunting
What looks like bravery by Laurel Baitman
Under the Whispering Door
A grief observed by c s Lewis. He is religious but you don’t have to be. It is a psychological journal of the experience of grief based on the loss of the love of his life
It’s OK That You’re Not OK, by Megan Devine. Really, really helped me. I’m sorry for your loss 💙
A Heart That Works by Rob Delaney
lord of the rings – seriously, when asked what it was about Tolkien replied, death, and it explores the depth, complexity and varied responses to grief like no other.
Unsurprising perhaps for someone who lost his mother before he was a teenager and all but one of his friends in WW1. As a survivor of the Somme he knew loss and grief in a way few do.
Pet Sematary worked for me, but your mileage may vary.
Fiction books for this: Grief is the thing with feathers, Hamnet
Rilke’s “The Dark Interval” is a beautiful collection of letters the poet wrote on the topic of grief and loss
May I also suggest, from experience, watching Coco a billion times.
I agree with the Didion rec and would like to add Here After by Amy Lin and What We Lose by Zinzi Clemmons.
That’s when I watch Six Feet Under. Haven’t found quite the right book for that specific feeling.