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drraytay's review against another edition
emotional
sad
fast-paced
4.0
Content Warnings
Graphic: Death of parent
Moderate: Pandemic/Epidemic and Grief
This book made me deeply sad that not nearly enough people have dads that love them the way Chimamanda’s loved her.lottie1803's review against another edition
challenging
dark
emotional
sad
fast-paced
4.0
Content Warnings
Graphic: Grief, Pandemic/Epidemic, Death of parent, and Death
tiogair_rioga's review against another edition
challenging
emotional
reflective
sad
5.0
I’ve read a handful of books on grieving since the death of my dad. This is the one I recommend to anyone grieving the loss of a parent and searching for someone to put to words all the feelings and experiences. This is the one I would recommend to someone who hasn’t experienced this kind of loss but is supporting someone else who has, and needs help to understand.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Death of parent and Grief
Moderate: Pandemic/Epidemic and Chronic illness
Minor: Car accident and Medical content
stephen_reads's review against another edition
3.0
Well-written and sensitive. Short enough to read in an hour or so (felt like a long form article).
Adichie is insightful and poetic.
Adichie is writing after the death of her elderly father following a years long diagnosis of kidney disease. Her experience of grief is fairly straight forward - her father was 88 years old and had several health issues - so I did find some of the sweeping statements about the meaning of grief lacked a certain depth and self-awareness. I don’t think you have to have experienced an especially traumatic death to write a book about grief, and many of Adichie’s observations are spot on, but she’s also extremely well-adjusted, comfortable, and writes with a poetic eloquence that is unrelatable at times. It served more as an abstract obituary for the interesting man who died of natural causes at old age than a true reflection on grief itself.
I’ve read so many books about grief and bereavement, and have shared takes about them with my fellow grievers. While this book is lyrical and beautifully written, it presents a very stable look at grief from a comfortably well-off and successful woman surrounded by many loving and living family members to share her pain. It’s very…normal.
I wouldn’t actually recommend this book to fresh grievers unless your grief journey involves an elderly relative at the end of their life. For anyone whose journey strays from this path even remotely Adichie’s experience will frustrate you if you don’t have a few years distance.
Adichie is insightful and poetic.
Adichie is writing after the death of her elderly father following a years long diagnosis of kidney disease. Her experience of grief is fairly straight forward - her father was 88 years old and had several health issues - so I did find some of the sweeping statements about the meaning of grief lacked a certain depth and self-awareness. I don’t think you have to have experienced an especially traumatic death to write a book about grief, and many of Adichie’s observations are spot on, but she’s also extremely well-adjusted, comfortable, and writes with a poetic eloquence that is unrelatable at times. It served more as an abstract obituary for the interesting man who died of natural causes at old age than a true reflection on grief itself.
I’ve read so many books about grief and bereavement, and have shared takes about them with my fellow grievers. While this book is lyrical and beautifully written, it presents a very stable look at grief from a comfortably well-off and successful woman surrounded by many loving and living family members to share her pain. It’s very…normal.
I wouldn’t actually recommend this book to fresh grievers unless your grief journey involves an elderly relative at the end of their life. For anyone whose journey strays from this path even remotely Adichie’s experience will frustrate you if you don’t have a few years distance.
Content Warnings
Moderate: Grief
Minor: Pandemic/Epidemic
rishireads's review against another edition
emotional
reflective
sad
tense
fast-paced
4.25
Content Warnings
Moderate: Death of parent, Pandemic/Epidemic, and Death
gabriella_'s review against another edition
dark
emotional
reflective
sad
medium-paced
4.0
Incredibly sad and beautiful. Recommended for anyone grieving, especially during the pandemic.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Death, Grief, Death of parent, Medical content, Pandemic/Epidemic, and Panic attacks/disorders
guinness74's review against another edition
emotional
hopeful
inspiring
reflective
sad
fast-paced
5.0
Adichie is a strong, brilliant voice in the pantheon of writers that I enjoy. I have not read all of her works, but those I have speak to me. And, though I have been mostly untouched by the grief that she evinces in this short book, I am aware of the fleeting nature of human life and the realization that my own parents are coming into the sunset of their lives, so this book seems to have more to tell me in its wisdom.
Content Warnings
Moderate: Grief, Death, and Death of parent
Minor: War, Pandemic/Epidemic, and Kidnapping
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