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Before Their Time: Adult Children's Experiences of Parental Suicide

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The book is aimed towards the adult child survivor. It details some of the many different types of emotions that one experiences. Insightful information passed on by other's losses. It illustrates everything from the initial shock to how many explain the cause of death to the grandchildren. The book demonstrates how the loss of each parent affects both the daughter and the son of the parent. A must read for any sdult child who is experincing the whirlwind of emotions from their loss.

This book is divided into four sections. In section one and two, adult children tell their own stories about the aftermath of the death of their mother or father by suicide. In the third section, four adult children from the same family describe the suicide of their mother, and in the fourth section, two experts write about research and treatment. In section one and two, although the adult children have different backgrounds, their accounts contain common themes that illustrate the near-universal emotions people experience in the wake of suicide. As a counterpoint, in section three, four siblings have different perspectives on the same suicide, showing there is no single way to grieve. The final section is titled `Research and Resources' but could also have been titled `Myth Busters' since it contains facts about suicide based on empirical observation and may provide the reader with fresh insights. Overall, the only misstep the editors make is the decision to exclude gory details (i.e., finding the dead parent) and this omission reinforces the idea that this issue is too horrible to write about or to read. This quibble aside, the book will help a select but not small group of grieving adults and provides both consolation and information.

My father committed suicide in Jan. 2008 so I was in search of answers, all this book did was add to my "head" with reading other adult childrens experences. The book did however, validate most of what I'm feeling in my heart and my mind. It also showed how differently everyone grieves. Made me sad that some marriages end when a parent committs suicide, because I need my husband more then I have ever needed him in the ten years we've been together. Not a helpful book to read if you have just gone through the suicide of a parent - good book if you are a psychology major in college though to give good insight with regards to adult children dealing with a parents suicide. I don't reccommend this to anyone in my shoes though - it will just mess with your head even more...maybe in a few years read it, but not 7 weeks later, and actually I read it less then a month after losing my otherwise perfectly healthy 62 year old father.