Grieving a Suicide: A Loved One's Search for Comfort, Answers & Hope [Paperback]

Albert Y. Hsu (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: June 11, 2002

A 2003 Finalist in the United Kingdom Christian Book Awards! Every seventeen minutes, someone in the United States dies by suicide. It is one of the most serious public health crises of modern times, claiming over one million lives worldwide every year. Those who have lost a loved one to suicide experience tremendous shock and trauma, with a confusing mix of emotions--anger, guilt, grief and despair. Suicide also raises heartrending questions: Why did this happen? Why didn't we see it coming? Many also wonder if those who choose suicide are doomed to an eternity separated from God and loved ones. Some may even start asking whether life is worth living at all. After his father's death by suicide, Albert Hsu wrestled with the intense emotional and spiritual questions surrounding suicide. While acknowledging that there are no easy answers, Hsu draws on the resources of the Christian faith to point suicide survivors to the God who offers comfort in our grief and hope for the future. If you have lost a loved one to suicide or provide pastoral care to those left behind, this book is an essential companion for the journey toward healing.

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

This guide for suicide survivors family and friends of people who took their own lives maintains InterVarsity Press's tradition of cerebral evangelicalism: it is biblical, well reasoned, clearly presented and thoroughly researched. Such a head-over-heart presentation is not surprising, since the author is an IVP editor. An unexpected bonus is the personal thread Hsu weaves through each chapter, the story of his own deep grief at his father's sudden suicide four years ago. In the book's first section, Hsu explores the emotions of grief from sudden shock to eventual remembrance. Though his map of grieving differs from the familiar one proposed by Elisabeth K bler-Ross, Hsu never minimizes grief's importance. "Only when we actively mourn will we be able to receive the comfort that God and others offer," he writes. Nevertheless, "those without [Christian] hope grieve in one way; those with hope grieve in another." The Christian way of grieving is Hsu's focus in the latter half of the book, where he surveys Scripture to deal with questions such as whether people who die by suicide can go to heaven, where God is when tragedy strikes and what can be learned from suicide. With its careful biblical exposition presented in a friendly homiletic style, Hsu's how-to-think-about-suicide book will have value for evangelical pastors and counselors as much as perhaps even more than for the bereaved themselves.
Copyright 2002 Cahners Business Information, Inc.

From Booklist

Hsu's wise, bittersweet, intelligently written book relates his own coping with unexpected, violent death and compassionately examines the emotional and theological issues of suicide. Hsu's father was a suicide at 59. He had suffered a stroke and become depressed during the preceding weeks, yet his death was a great shock. Respecting his readers--for instance, by acknowledging individual differences in grieving--Hsu encourages remembering while lamenting and realizing that one will never know what could have been. He addresses such difficult, unanswerable questions as "Why did it happen?" and "Could anything have prevented it?" while exploring the morality of suicide and the problem of forgiving the suicide with great sensitivity and care. Suffering, he concludes, is part of the human condition. Rather than pondering "unfathomable mysteries," it is better to do one's best to achieve relief. Despite suffering, one can still find meaning, connect with others, and hope that good can come from pain and healing from grief. Strongly recommended for those who have lost a loved one to suicide. June Sawyers
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved

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Product Details

• Paperback: 180 pages
• Publisher: IVP Books (June 11, 2002)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0830823182
• ISBN-13: 978-0830823185
• Product Dimensions: 8.1 x 5.3 x 0.6 inches
• Shipping Weight: 8 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.5 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (21 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #149,869 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
  • #74 in Books > Health, Fitness & Dieting > Death & Grief > Suicide

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

22 of 22 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A Loved One's Search for Comfort, April 20, 2006

By 

Dorie (WI) - See all my reviews

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: Grieving a Suicide: A Loved One's Search for Comfort, Answers & Hope (Paperback)

I found this book and "No Time to Say Goodbye" by Carla Fine to be the best books I've read on the subject of suicide. Suicide happens to all walks of faith. I lost a dear friend to this tragic death, and these two books have been very comforting for me. I found the following words in this book very healing, "He fought an enemy that was as real to him as this casket is to us. This silent enemy exhausted all his courage and strength. Only God knows what he was suffering in his soul. But our consolation is that God does know and understands!"

20 of 21 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Wonderful book for grieving - first one I read, July 11, 2003

By 

Ann Atkinson "Anntnwv" (Antioch, TN United States) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Grieving a Suicide: A Loved One's Search for Comfort, Answers & Hope (Paperback)

This was a wonderful helpful book. Every page seemed to say something I could indentify with as I grieved the suicide of my fiance. I am so glad I was able to read this book at the beginning to better understand suicide and the feelings that come and how to deal with them. Normal behavior was described such as the stress and not being able to function as well as before while grieving.

17 of 18 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars The BEST book I've read on loss from suicide!, May 10, 2007

By 

J. Ikner "Ike" (OBX of NC) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Grieving a Suicide: A Loved One's Search for Comfort, Answers & Hope (Paperback)

I cannot sing higher praises for this book and it's author, Hsu. Having been a grief educator and serving with hospice for years, I recently lost my father to suicide and I have turned to reading as a form of grief work and self help. This book was very insightful, challenging, understanding, and personal. Although it is of a Christian perspective, it does not shove religion down one's throat. Rather, the gentleness and kindness and hope that can come from one's spiritual self and beliefs are encouraged. Modern psychology and Western culture does not have all the answers and this book addresses this in relation to loss by suicide. The raw pain that happens, dealing with blame and responsibility, the turmoil and chaos of this type of loss, the magnitude of it, lamentation, life perspective and forever changed personhood are all touched on. This is an empowering book from a very personal perspective, of one who has traveled the road as a survivor of loss by suicide. I salute Hsu for being so intimate in his book, yet specific and detailed, that is appealed to my inner-self in accepting that this loss is real, it happened, and now where do I go from here. Thank you, Hsu, and Inter-Varsity Press. I'll share this with my loved ones and I'll re-read it through this first year of mourning and, if needed, beyond. I'm sure I'll quote it for years to come. Despite much greif work to accomplish, I feel this book has helped me at least sort through the shattered pieces that remain.