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3.63 AVERAGE
3.63 AVERAGE
What happened to the Hance family is an incredible tragedy and something no one should ever have to go through. The story is gut-wrenching and totally depressing. These three beautiful girls (not to mention their cousin, three strangers and their aunt) died in a horrific accident. Mystery surrounds the cause of the accident: how could their doting aunt have been drunk and high? Someone who rarely touched liquor?
I cannot imagine the pain and guilt the Hances experienced in the loss of their three beloved daughters. Everyone grieves in different ways, there is no right or wrong, but that being said, I have to say that Jackie Hance's manner of grieving had some unhealthy elements in it.
She was hard on her husband, took advantage of her friends and expected them to forgo going back to their normal routines...she threw lavish birthday and communion parties for her dead children...went Christmas shopping and put gifts on their graves. It's just a little odd. I can understand having a memorial to celebrate their lives on their birthdays, perhaps have a mass said....certainly starting a foundation. But the parties were strange--inviting all the friends over to have cake, play games and play in the dead children's rooms.
I was also disturbed by how much joy Jackie took from material things...a diamond cross and a convertible Volvo...and then go into deep guilt. I don't think I could enjoy "things" after losing my children. They just would not have any value.
The book is a memoir of their lives before and after the tragedy and how they are trying to cope. There is no information to answer questions about the mystery of Aunt Diane's drinking.
I don't recommend the book...it's sad.
I cannot imagine the pain and guilt the Hances experienced in the loss of their three beloved daughters. Everyone grieves in different ways, there is no right or wrong, but that being said, I have to say that Jackie Hance's manner of grieving had some unhealthy elements in it.
She was hard on her husband, took advantage of her friends and expected them to forgo going back to their normal routines...she threw lavish birthday and communion parties for her dead children...went Christmas shopping and put gifts on their graves. It's just a little odd. I can understand having a memorial to celebrate their lives on their birthdays, perhaps have a mass said....certainly starting a foundation. But the parties were strange--inviting all the friends over to have cake, play games and play in the dead children's rooms.
I was also disturbed by how much joy Jackie took from material things...a diamond cross and a convertible Volvo...and then go into deep guilt. I don't think I could enjoy "things" after losing my children. They just would not have any value.
The book is a memoir of their lives before and after the tragedy and how they are trying to cope. There is no information to answer questions about the mystery of Aunt Diane's drinking.
I don't recommend the book...it's sad.
dark
emotional
sad
medium-paced
dark
emotional
hopeful
sad
medium-paced
dark
emotional
hopeful
inspiring
reflective
sad
medium-paced
Content Warnings
Graphic: Child death, Death, Panic attacks/disorders, Suicidal thoughts, Vomit, Grief, Car accident, Pregnancy
Heartbreaking and honest. Often books like this try to be overly uplifting or preachy, but although there's hope, reflection, and healing here, the hell the Hance family went through isn't glossed over. I think it takes extraordinary guts to publish the darkest depths of your despair for everyone to read. If you really can say that you read about a woman's seemingly endless torment and that made you feel no emotion that says more about you than about Jackie Hance. I don't personally know the Hance family and I'm not a mother yet this book broke my heart. I wish Jackie and her family all the luck, love and peace in the universe.
This book was heartbreaking. Jackie tells the story of how she lost her 3 beautiful girls in a tragic car accident along with her sister-in-law and niece. She shares her feelings of courage and strength of how she coped with the tragic loss. While reading the Acknowledgments at the end of the book I was crying. Jackie leaves some great advice for others who have lost loved ones in a tragic way.
Having seen the compelling HBO documentary, "There's Something Wrong with Aunt Diane," I was curious if Jackie Hance, Diane's sister-in-law and the mother of Emma, age 8; Alyson, age 7; and Katie, age 5; all whom died in a horrific car accident on New York's Taconic State Parkway, could explain how Diane, a woman whose husband and family claimed did not drink or use drugs, could have been driving against traffic with a blood alcohol content twice the legal limit, an opened vodka bottle in the wreckage, and evidence that she had been smoking marijuana shortly before the crash. Hance does not shed any light on the tragedy itself, rather seeming to accept the medical findings (unlike her estranged brother-in-law). Instead, the book chronicles how she and her husband, Diane's brother, coped with their unimaginable loss and had the courage and strength to forgive and move forward.
If you have ever read any other reviews I have written, you know I love a happy ending in my books. Unfortunately, I knew this book would not really have one of those, but I was interested in Jackie Hance's story nonetheless. I hope I never have to experience the loss of a child. I can't imagine how one ever recovers from such a loss. It took tremendous courage to tell this story and Hance is brutally honest throughout.
From the time I heard about this story on the news I have been curious how this seemingly preventable tragedy could have even happened. As one review I read on Goodreads mentioned, this book doesn't really offer any answers as to why Jackie's sister-in-law would have had alcohol & pot in her system at 10:30 in the morning expecially when she would be driving her own young children and her three nieces. Apparently, we will never know since everyone in the car died except Jackie's nephew.
Hance reveals the emotional roller coaster she embarks upon after the death of her three beloved daughters. She details the struggles her marriage suffers, her thoughts of suicide, her worries about the public scrutiny she was constanly under, all the way to her subsequent pregnancy of her fourth child. I could understand all of the emotions she described--anguish, guilt when she did pull herself together enough to "have fun" (how could she ever laugh or smile or celebrate a holiday again when her girls weren't ever going to be able to do the same again?) I cried right along with her (I'm crying again just thinking about it!). I was glad she came to terms--at least as much I can ever imagine one does--with the losss she experienced.
I would recommend this book, but be prepared for a tear-jerker. I think it would be a valuable read for anyone that's grieving, as Hance does provide some hope of "recovery". The unanswerred questions and mystery that surround the accident are hard to accept, but if Hance can move past it I guess we all have to. I wish her and her family & supportive friends well.
Reviewed by Joelle for Cocktails and Books
From the time I heard about this story on the news I have been curious how this seemingly preventable tragedy could have even happened. As one review I read on Goodreads mentioned, this book doesn't really offer any answers as to why Jackie's sister-in-law would have had alcohol & pot in her system at 10:30 in the morning expecially when she would be driving her own young children and her three nieces. Apparently, we will never know since everyone in the car died except Jackie's nephew.
Hance reveals the emotional roller coaster she embarks upon after the death of her three beloved daughters. She details the struggles her marriage suffers, her thoughts of suicide, her worries about the public scrutiny she was constanly under, all the way to her subsequent pregnancy of her fourth child. I could understand all of the emotions she described--anguish, guilt when she did pull herself together enough to "have fun" (how could she ever laugh or smile or celebrate a holiday again when her girls weren't ever going to be able to do the same again?) I cried right along with her (I'm crying again just thinking about it!). I was glad she came to terms--at least as much I can ever imagine one does--with the losss she experienced.
I would recommend this book, but be prepared for a tear-jerker. I think it would be a valuable read for anyone that's grieving, as Hance does provide some hope of "recovery". The unanswerred questions and mystery that surround the accident are hard to accept, but if Hance can move past it I guess we all have to. I wish her and her family & supportive friends well.
Reviewed by Joelle for Cocktails and Books
dark
emotional
reflective
medium-paced
Content Warnings
Graphic: Child death, Grief
This is the memoir of the author - Jackie Hance. In 2009 her three daughters were killed in a tragic car accident when Jackie's sister in law, Diane, was driving her family and her three nieces home from a camping trip. No idea what happened to Diane to cause her to drive for 2 miles down the wrong side of the highway and kill herself, her daughter, and her three nieces - Jackie's three daughters, and three people in the other car she slammed into.
This book covers Jackie's recovery in the 3 years after her daughter's death. Her unimaginable loss became headline news and gave she and her husband unwanted attention when all she wanted to do was grieve for her children. What follows that tragic day is a steady stream of friends that held them up and forced them to go on. Jackie learned to move forward and eventually gets pregnant with her 4th daughter, Kasey, who gives she and her husband Warren meaning to go on.
This is a hard book to review, so I won't. I will just say that I cannot even imagine what it would be like to lose all of your children - especially in a tragic accident that even today there is no clear answer to what happened. There is a documentary called "Something's Wrong With Aunt Diane" which chronicles the accident and Diane' family trying to figure out what happened that caused an accident that killed 8 people. This book covers Jackie's intense grief, and her almost constant thoughts of suicide in the first year after the accident (in case that is a trigger for any readers). Her friends are to be commended for their endless committment to her.
I listened to this book, and even though it was nice to hear the author speak about her own story (since she never really spoke publicly about the accident) she is not a professional reader. But I am glad that I read this because this side of the story was not anywhere in the documentary and I did wonder how she was coping with the loss of all of her children.
Take a look at the documentary and then read this one to learn more.
This book covers Jackie's recovery in the 3 years after her daughter's death. Her unimaginable loss became headline news and gave she and her husband unwanted attention when all she wanted to do was grieve for her children. What follows that tragic day is a steady stream of friends that held them up and forced them to go on. Jackie learned to move forward and eventually gets pregnant with her 4th daughter, Kasey, who gives she and her husband Warren meaning to go on.
This is a hard book to review, so I won't. I will just say that I cannot even imagine what it would be like to lose all of your children - especially in a tragic accident that even today there is no clear answer to what happened. There is a documentary called "Something's Wrong With Aunt Diane" which chronicles the accident and Diane' family trying to figure out what happened that caused an accident that killed 8 people. This book covers Jackie's intense grief, and her almost constant thoughts of suicide in the first year after the accident (in case that is a trigger for any readers). Her friends are to be commended for their endless committment to her.
I listened to this book, and even though it was nice to hear the author speak about her own story (since she never really spoke publicly about the accident) she is not a professional reader. But I am glad that I read this because this side of the story was not anywhere in the documentary and I did wonder how she was coping with the loss of all of her children.
Take a look at the documentary and then read this one to learn more.