I’m sure a lot of us hear “Good Grief” and expect it to be followed by “Charlie Brown”, but that is not what this is about.  I picked it up from the library today and read it right away.

Wonderful book, but please read armed with a box of tissues.  Unexpectedly poignant.  The reader connects instantly with Sophie and follow her “one step forwards, two steps back” journey out of grief and into life after tragedy.  I haven’t cried so much while reading in a long time.  The different ways grief impacts people are shown quite realistically, through Sophie, her mother-in-law Marion, and her grief support group cohorts.  I loved how this was not a smooth journey for Sophie, there were major setbacks along the way, just like in the real world and that the rewards or progress often came from unexpected places.

My only teeny, tiny issue with the book was I wasn’t happy about the resolution of the Drew part of the story line, but ehhh, that might just be me.  Overall, a painfully accurate portrayal of the grieving process and a message that it is a process and therefore at some point, when it is right for you and only when it is right for you, you’ll come out the other side of it.

A excerpt from early in the book:

“Lately, life requires so much self-discipline.  While most people have a to-do list, I have a to-don’t list.  Don’t eat Oreos until your gums bleed.  Don’t sleep in your clothes.  Don’t grab the produce boy’s teenage wrists and sob.”