A study of grief and empowerment sure to be useful to widows seeking an empathetic guide.
In this slim volume—part memoir, part self-help book—a widow navigates her way through the stages of grief.
Debut author Gould, a psychologist, is accustomed to helping her clients deal with bereavement and loss, but she was blindsided by her own husband’s sudden death in 1999. She turned to journaling to express and relieve her pain and eventually realized that her insights could help serve as a guide for other women coping with loss. The project took 10 years to manifest into eight chapters of memoirs, diary entries, occasional poetry and gently couched lessons—an emotionally charged account of one woman’s journey through personal tragedy. Although readers may sometimes find the author’s account of heartbreak fatiguing, her spiritual and psychological inquiries provide an uplifting balance. She delves into the process of grief, and also into the traps that many women fall into when they marry: dependence on a husband for an identity and happiness, and an ignorance of legal matters. Gould’s perceptive prose reflects her talent for lyricism (“I am furrowed and softened: a place of fertility for seeds to grow, and I am the farmer offering fields for grazing and growth.”). Each chapter ends with a suggestion (“Dear Reader”) that encourages the reader to follow her own path through grief, to create daily outlets for expression and allow a new self to emerge. The author lets readers experience her bright and dark days as she shows how the grieving process can be an emotional roller coaster before one attains a state of grace.
A study of grief and empowerment sure to be useful to widows seeking an empathetic guide.Pub Date: Aug. 9, 2012
ISBN: 978-0615636269
Page Count: 174
Publisher: Lucid Learning Systems, Inc.
Review Posted Online: June 7, 2013
Review Program: Kirkus Indie
Stricter than, say, Bergen Evans or W3 ("disinterested" means impartial — period), Strunk is in the last analysis...
Privately published by Strunk of Cornell in 1918 and revised by his student E. B. White in 1959, that "little book" is back again with more White updatings.
Stricter than, say, Bergen Evans or W3 ("disinterested" means impartial — period), Strunk is in the last analysis (whoops — "A bankrupt expression") a unique guide (which means "without like or equal").Pub Date: May 15, 1972
ISBN: 0205632645
Page Count: 105
Publisher: Macmillan
Review Posted Online: Oct. 28, 2011
Kirkus Reviews Issue: May 1, 1972
This is not the Nutcracker sweet, as passed on by Tchaikovsky and Marius Petipa. No, this is the original Hoffmann tale of 1816, in which the froth of Christmas revelry occasionally parts to let the dark underside of childhood fantasies and fears peek through. The boundaries between dream and reality fade, just as Godfather Drosselmeier, the Nutcracker's creator, is seen as alternately sinister and jolly. And Italian artist Roberto Innocenti gives an errily realistic air to Marie's dreams, in richly detailed illustrations touched by a mysterious light. A beautiful version of this classic tale, which will captivate adults and children alike. (Nutcracker; $35.00; Oct. 28, 1996; 136 pp.; 0-15-100227-4)
Pub Date: Oct. 28, 1996
ISBN: 0-15-100227-4
Page Count: 136
Publisher: Harcourt
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Aug. 15, 1996
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