A WOMAN'S BOOK OF GRIEVING

An elegant collection of prose-poems and verses characterized by an extreme compression of language -- perhaps the only way to respect the failure of words to capture grief while insisting, nevertheless, on speaking. Rapoport rails at the deaths of family and friends; prays for a ""Good Death"" with a minimum of suffering; affirms the company of others, especially women, in sorrow. These pieces express a wide range of emotions that accompany loss. The spirit of the book is one of biblical lamentation, tempered at times by a grateful sense of the refuge to be found in grieving for loss -- and celebrating life -- with others. 12 lithographs.