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GRIEF IS...

Name: GRIEF IS...
Author: Heike Mertins
ISBN: 978-1-5255-0854-7

THOUGHTS ON LOSS, STRUGGLE AND NEW BEGINNINGS

by Heike Mertins ‧ RELEASE DATE: Oct. 4, 2017

A thoughtful, honest take on the messy, complicated process of grieving.

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A debut author offers meditations on coping with loss and learning to live again after the death of a loved one.

When Mertins’ husband died following a long illness, she wasn’t prepared for the overwhelming grief that followed. In the immediate aftermath, she had to “fight just to tread water and not drown.” Simply getting through the day was a challenge, as she vividly chronicles in this series of brief, journal-style entries on her feelings of loss, anger, depression, frustration, and, ultimately, joy in the years following her spouse’s death. The candid, contemplative book is divided into three lucid sections. The first focuses on “the terrible awful beginning,” or the first year or so after her loss, when grief was at its rawest and most potent. That’s followed by “the messy middle” and finally the livable “lasting non-ending”—the point when “finally…grief was no longer the place where I started and finished my day.” Mertins is hardly the first author to tackle the topic of losing a loved one, but what makes this work unusual and compelling is her adamant refusal to file the rough edges of her emotions in order to make readers more comfortable. Speaking to others who have experienced a similar loss, she clearly encourages them not to deny or hide their emotions simply because society has set an arbitrary time limit on sorrow. As one sympathetic person told her, “It’s grief and it will take as long as it will take.” Nor is the author a fan of the concept of moving on, a phrase that “suggests closing the door on what was.” Instead, she prefers to think of “moving forward,” which involves acknowledging “the love that carried me through those years and helped me become who I now am” while also accepting that it’s possible to build a new and meaningful life. This may not be the most elegantly written book on grief, but in sharing her unvarnished emotions, Mertins will surely provide some comfort to those facing a similar loss.

A thoughtful, honest take on the messy, complicated process of grieving.

Pub Date: Oct. 4, 2017

ISBN: 978-1-5255-0854-7

Page Count: 150

Publisher: FriesenPress

Review Posted Online: Dec. 9, 2017

Review Program: Kirkus Indie

Categories:

GENERAL NONFICTION

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NUTCRACKER

by E.T.A. Hoffmann ‧ RELEASE DATE: Oct. 28, 1996

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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

Categories:

GENERAL NONFICTION

- BOOK REVIEW
THE NUTCRACKER AND THE MOUSE KING
by E.T.A. Hoffmann ; adapted by Natalie Andrewson ; illustrated by Natalie Andrewson

- BOOK REVIEW
THE NUTCRACKER
by E.T.A. Hoffmann & illustrated by Julie Paschkis

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TO THE ONE I LOVE THE BEST

EPISODES FROM THE LIFE OF LADY MENDL (ELSIE DE WOLFE)

by Ludwig Bemelmans ‧ RELEASE DATE: Feb. 23, 1955

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An extravaganza in Bemelmans' inimitable vein, but written almost dead pan, with sly, amusing, sometimes biting undertones, breaking through. For Bemelmans was "the man who came to cocktails". And his hostess was Lady Mendl (Elsie de Wolfe), arbiter of American decorating taste over a generation. Lady Mendl was an incredible person,- self-made in proper American tradition on the one hand, for she had been haunted by the poverty of her childhood, and the years of struggle up from its ugliness,- until she became synonymous with the exotic, exquisite, worshipper at beauty's whrine. Bemelmans draws a portrait in extremes, through apt descriptions, through hilarious anecdote, through surprisingly sympathetic and understanding bits of appreciation. The scene shifts from Hollywood to the home she loved the best in Versailles. One meets in passing a vast roster of famous figures of the international and artistic set. And always one feels Bemelmans, slightly offstage, observing, recording, commenting, illustrated.