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emmastia's review
3.0
This was a touching memoir, but nothing amazing. I read it pretty much without stopping in roughly 2 hrs.
moreadsbooks's review
3.0
This book reminds me a lot of The Year of Magical Thinking, though it's not nearly as good. Still sad. What bums me out the most is that although the baby, Bubbies, of course knew his mom and missed her, he most likely won't remember her at all when he grows up. Where do all the memories that we make as little tiny children go?
lutheranjulia's review
3.0
A lengthened essay about a grandfather (and grandmother) who step in as assistant parents to their grandchildren after their daughter dies. The narrative isn't a thread, but a series of vignettes that is both current events and memories of the deceased. In many ways, it is a mirror of grief in the clarity of some moments and the complete forgetting of others. There is little to no easing of grief through this book.
canadianbookworm's review
3.0
This short memoir is the story of the first couple years after the sudden death of Rosenblatt's daughter Amy. Amy was a young mother of three children and a pediatrician. Rosenblatt and his wife dropped the lives they were living and moved into the in-law suite in the house Amy shared with her husband and children and began as Rosenblatt's wife, Ginny, says "to live Amy's life". They do what needs to be done with the children and the house and help Amy's husband Harris to have a life as well.
The title refers to Rosenblatt's task of making breakfast to each child's liking every morning, specifically toast.
He talks about the other people, friends and family, that help to make things go smoothly and the emotional help both taken and offered.
Well-written and reflecting on Amy's life, this book is a lovely tribute to his daughter.
The title refers to Rosenblatt's task of making breakfast to each child's liking every morning, specifically toast.
He talks about the other people, friends and family, that help to make things go smoothly and the emotional help both taken and offered.
Well-written and reflecting on Amy's life, this book is a lovely tribute to his daughter.
sandyd's review
4.0
This is a very short memoir by a writer whose beloved daughter died suddenly, leaving three young children. Roger and his wife Ginnie move in with their son-in-law Harris to help care for Amy's children. Roger's restrained account of the couple of years after his daughter's death is sometimes melancholy, sometimes heartbreaking, sometimes angry, and occasionally sweet.
le13anna's review
5.0
What a lovely, quiet little book about all of the good and beauty that can happen to a good family after the worst has already happened. I read this funny and heartbreaking memoir before bed to comfort myself and then the truest bits out loud the next morning to Mark.
ahsimlibrarian's review
4.0
It's impossible to read this book without crying, especially at the beginning. When his daughter Amy died at 38 of a heart abnormality she didn't knew she had, Rosenblatt and his wife move in with their 3 grandchildren and son-in-law.
"The trouble with a close family is that it suffers closely, too."
Reading about parents whose children have died is not something I ordinarily want to do. But this was, ultimately, a sweet story about the honor and commitment of loving families.
"The trouble with a close family is that it suffers closely, too."
Reading about parents whose children have died is not something I ordinarily want to do. But this was, ultimately, a sweet story about the honor and commitment of loving families.
pattydsf's review
3.0
I am still thinking about this book, but I am not sure why. A terrible tragedy strikes Roger Rosenblatt's family. His daughter, Amy dies unexpectedly at age 38. Rosenblatt has always been a writer and it appearss that he copes with change by writing about it.
I had never read anything by Rosenblatt, so I started the book thinking that it would be tugging at my heartstrings. That is not this author's way. What he does instead is bring the reader into the day to day coping with death.
This is a very quiet, unassuming book. I am glad that I have read it. I just don't know what I will be thinking about it in 6 months. Will I remember it?
I had never read anything by Rosenblatt, so I started the book thinking that it would be tugging at my heartstrings. That is not this author's way. What he does instead is bring the reader into the day to day coping with death.
This is a very quiet, unassuming book. I am glad that I have read it. I just don't know what I will be thinking about it in 6 months. Will I remember it?