Customer Reviews

Grieving: A Beginner's Guide

5 star:		(6)
4 star:		(1)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

I write as a man whose wife died of cancer after 36 years and 10 months of marriage. This book appeals to me as an honest, tough look at what it means to grieve. I have gained a lot from its models on how grieving can be turned around - if one is willing to work with it - so that loss can be made into something positive. This kind of down-to-earth guidance I found nowhere else. For someone in pain - or trying to help someone suffering from bereavement - this is an invaluable book, short and readable but full of practical advice with rich spiritual implications. Without a doubt the best book I have found on the subject.

Three months after my husbands suicide I came across this book at the local library. Most of the books I've read on the subject of grief and being a widow all say the same things, or say what I already know and understand. The author of this book talks very plainly and frankly about her grief, and tries very hard to find a different perspective to view this whole horrible process from. I really appreciated the approach, as I too have tried to make sense and understand how to deal with the loss of my husband and what that means for my future. After reading it I thouht "finally a helpful book about grief". Hence the subject title for this review.

I recommend this book to every young widow. My husband died 4 months ago and I thought my life was over. This book really helped me see that I will survive and will actually be a better person because of my terrible loss. I have marked certain parts of the book that I read and reread on those days that I need help just to get out of bed in the morning. As the title indicates, it really is a guide at a time when a person needs guidance.

This book is a help for the newly grieving, especially a widow.
Makes a nice gift for someone who has recently lost a spouse. The author wrote from her own experience; it is not the regular stages of grief.

When we lost an adult son in 2006, this books seemed to help the most. Grief is personal...but to someone new to grief, with no time to prepare, this book validated the feelings I was experiencing,and reassured me that I was not crazy...that others had felt the same. I found it useful, not preachy. It didn't tell you HOW to grieve, or make you feel as if you were doing it "wrong" if you didn't feel better in a year...but time does heal! and it was simply helpful to recognize my experiences in other people. I am a Christian,and my faith supported me through my loss. But this helped, and helped me talk to my husband and other children. I will give this book to others in need.

The Holy Spirit spoke to me in a bookstore about giving this book to my dad. He had recently lost his beloved wife, my stepmom, a few months before. I was in a used bookstore, shopping for other books, and my father was with me, but chose to wait out in the car. As I shopped, I wasn't at the moment thinking about my father. I was looking through books on a very high shelf. Suddenly, the Holy Spirit interrupted my thoughts and spoke to my heart, saying, "Look down and to your right - there is a book there your dad needs." I looked, and my eyes immediately fell on this book, which was face out - the only one in that section that was positioned like that. I bought it gave it to my dad in the car, who said, "Oh, no, I can't focus lately, and I've been given a few other books that really didn't help. Thanks anyway." He felt he was beyond being comforted. I ran a few more errands, and again he chose to stay in the car. I was gone for quite some time. When I returned, he was nearly in tears. He said, "Holly, this book is great. Already it is helping me." He read the entire book that day. Afterwards he said it helped him beyond words. Since then, both he and I have recommended the book to many other grieving people, all of whom have said it really made a difference. God is using Jerusha Hull McCormack greatly!

This book is absolutely excellent. Everyone should own a copy, read it now, and keep it on the shelf for when they have to go through a significant bereavement. I'm not sure how useful it would be to those in the first few months after a death, although there is some useful advice for the immediate aftermath. But it is a most refreshing, platitude-free, book on the journey to living with loss.