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4.21 AVERAGE
4.21 AVERAGE
I've never had a child of my own. I don't know what that is like. But, I do know what it's like to lose a best friend- a sister. A person who was in your life for a short period, but felt like they had already been present for a lifetime- or at least, beginning to.
When Tom Hart writes, "I'm closer to her when I'm bawling. The river is dry. I want my river back," I completely understood. It's weird. Your body won't produce sufficient tears days after a loss. Maybe certain memories will cause you to unexpectedly cry, but that initial devastation that makes you cry out and let it out is gone. You begin to feel numb, as though you're not really made out of anything, except the physical stuff you see on the outside- skin, muscle, bone fixtures. But you don't sense any of that yourself- you don't feel anything, except for the things that are naturally presented to you. Like, the gust of wind that blows your hair, the daily commute you take to work, the chair that supports you when you sit down. But your feelings and the significance behind just being become lost. What do those things matter when you have lost the ones you love? They won't experience their hair being tossed around or the mundane 5PM traffic, or the satisfactory feeling of sitting down on a chair at the end of a long day.
Time heals all wounds. I think that's right because right now it sucks and everything feels wrong and weird, but already time is moving forward. With or without me, it's moving towards the future, even if the past wants to tag along and drag you down at times. I don't want to forget her and I want to stop time and tell it to remember and love her still, but she's gone and there's nothing to love except memories. But time heals and you have to allow it to heal you or you're just going to sink into a muddy sinkhole, one that will suck you in and leave you dry.
When Tom Hart writes, "I'm closer to her when I'm bawling. The river is dry. I want my river back," I completely understood. It's weird. Your body won't produce sufficient tears days after a loss. Maybe certain memories will cause you to unexpectedly cry, but that initial devastation that makes you cry out and let it out is gone. You begin to feel numb, as though you're not really made out of anything, except the physical stuff you see on the outside- skin, muscle, bone fixtures. But you don't sense any of that yourself- you don't feel anything, except for the things that are naturally presented to you. Like, the gust of wind that blows your hair, the daily commute you take to work, the chair that supports you when you sit down. But your feelings and the significance behind just being become lost. What do those things matter when you have lost the ones you love? They won't experience their hair being tossed around or the mundane 5PM traffic, or the satisfactory feeling of sitting down on a chair at the end of a long day.
Time heals all wounds. I think that's right because right now it sucks and everything feels wrong and weird, but already time is moving forward. With or without me, it's moving towards the future, even if the past wants to tag along and drag you down at times. I don't want to forget her and I want to stop time and tell it to remember and love her still, but she's gone and there's nothing to love except memories. But time heals and you have to allow it to heal you or you're just going to sink into a muddy sinkhole, one that will suck you in and leave you dry.
WOW. There aren't enough superlatives for this memoir. So beautiful and raw and heartbreaking. This is the best graphic novel I have ever read. The illustrations are haunting. I cried many, many times reading this and I sobbed through the ending. I never thought I'd feel this way about a graphic novel. Hart has created an incredible piece of art that pays tribute to his love for his daughter.
I didn’t think I would recommend a graphic novel about the death of an almost 2 year old and yet it is one of the most beautiful books I’ve read in some time. Like Alison Bechdel’s Fun Home it is a brutally honest chronicle told in charming drawings. While a quick read this is obviously not a light read. The simplicity of the format is deceiving as it does such an impressive job of discussing grieving- what it does to you, how he experienced it and survived it. Somehow Hart manages to write about this horrendous subject and make it not saccharine or bleak but very beautifully human.
emotional
reflective
sad
medium-paced
Content Warnings
Moderate: Child death, Death, Grief, Medical trauma, Car accident, Pregnancy
Midway through this graphic memoir, a counselor suggests Tom Hart externalize his anger. Hart responds, “I write and I draw-it--serves the same purpose.” Hart draws through all the stages as he grieves the death of his daughter. What he gives us is a beautiful expression of love and hope, as he tries to make sense of the tragedy. One of the best books I’ve ever read.
As a book it was a well written and drawn, emotionally vulnerable, open, honest depiction of grief from the loss of a child. However, I didn't connect with it or feel moved at all. Others may find this to be a powerful book, or maybe I also would in a different time and place. For this reading though, I found it kind of tedious and distant.
This is a graphic memoir about the death of a child, before she even turned two. I honestly couldn't finish it. The emotions were so raw and real. My heart broke on every page.
Difficile de ne pas être profondément touchée par le témoignage et la quête de sens de ce père qui a perdu subitement sa fillette d'un peu moins de deux ans...