A Broken Heart Still Beats: After Your Child Dies (Paperback)

by Anne McCracken (Author), Mary Semel (Author) "The forty-year-old woman squeezed the last suitcase into her car trunk, got into the driver's seat, and reached back to check her son's seat belt..." (more)
Key Phrases: sorrow words, bereaved parents, New York, Under Toad, World War (more...)

Editorial Reviews

Review
The grief felt by a parent following a child's death is the theme of this book, edited by two mothers who share that unfortunate experience. As a cathartic exercise, McCracken and Semel assembled articles and excerpts-some fiction, some nonfiction-that featured the death of a child. They have also written a brief introduction to each chapter, describing a different stage of the grieving process and how it affected their lives.

The book contains a remarkable miscellany of emotionally charged literature by the likes of Melville, Frost, Shelley, Irving and Shakespeare. Each selection describes bereavement in a different way, lending credence to the editors' belief that no one can claim to understand another person's particular loss or its effects. The excerpted literature is of impeccable quality, as are the sentiments behind each piece. What's more, the editors' introductions to each chapter convey intense emotion sans the maudlin trappings that characterize many a self-help book. This book does not seek to instruct the reader on how to cope with grief, it merely shares the eloquence of those who have been there before. Highly recommended. -- Today's Librarian, September 1, 1999 --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

Product Description
A Broken Heart Still Beats, After your child dies. This remarkable complilations of poetry, fiction, and essays eloquently expresses a parent's pain, stages of grief, and the coping and healing that follow. Judith Guest and Dominick Dunne are among the contributors, many of whom are bereaved parents themselves.

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Product Details

• Paperback: 328 pages
• Publisher: Hazelden; 1 edition (October 1, 2000)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1568385560
• ISBN-13: 978-1568385563
• Product Dimensions: 9 x 6.1 x 0.9 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.1 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.6 out of 5 stars See all reviews (28 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #119,982 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

23 of 23 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars The most helpful book so far..., June 20, 2004

By	Ypsi (Youngstown, OH United States) - See all my reviews

I lost my precious daughter Hannah Caguiat last December in an accident that injured me and her little sister Emily as well. Along with an outpouring of love, support, and sympathy from our family and community, I received dozens of books about bereavement in general and loss of a child in particular.

I received _A Broken Heart Still Beats_ as a gift recently and reading it has been so helpful. Despite the variety of experiences and the fact that some of the pieces in here are fiction, this is the first time I have felt like there are people out there who truly would understand what we are going through. It is not a self-help book, but does explore various aspects of being a bereaved parent -- from relationships with spouse/partner/child's other parent, to anger, to sibling issues. I highly recommend this for anyone who has lost a child or is close to someone who has.

I was saddened, too, by how many people out there in the arts and literature have been in this situation. So many that I never knew had experienced this.

20 of 20 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars a book for later, May 26, 2000

By A Customer

This review is from: A Broken Heart Still Beats: When Your Child Dies (Hardcover)

I tried to read this book within a few months of my daughter's death and thought I had wasted my money. Now that the 1st year is behind us, I have picked the book up again and find it is what I need. I would not recommend it to those whose grief is still fresh, there are better books for that time. ("The Worst Loss" and The Phoenix Phenomenon" are 2 that my husband and I found helpful.) Let some of the fog and shock lift, and then read this book. Some of my favorite selections are from authors who lived 50 or more years ago; their ability to express the ache of losing a child is amazing.

20 of 20 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Shared experiences ease the pain of loss., August 15, 1999

By A Customer

This review is from: A Broken Heart Still Beats: When Your Child Dies (Hardcover)

I grew up knowing that my grandfather experienced the loss of a child, but I never gave it much consideration. One thing I wish I could do today, six years after the death of my 10-year-old son, is bring my deceased grandfather back to tell him my story and listen to him talk about the death of his only son during World War Two.

Anyone who has lived through the loss of a child will feel a lightening of the heart as they recognize their own experiences and thoughts in the words of others. This book is a valuable collection of work from gifted writers who had those experiences and thoughts.

Rabindranath Tagore's poem, "The End", reaches so deep it's painful, but I find myself reading it over and over because it puts my feelings to words in a way I can't. So now, because I read this book, eight simple words, artfully arranged by Tagore, will always be with me when I think of my son; "He is in my bones and in my soul."

Thank you, Anne and Mary, for giving me something like talking to my grandfather.