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wchereads's review
dark
emotional
sad
4.75
Being immersed in this book was a journey. There were some really dark and devastating moments but the visuals were absolutely breathtaking. The prose is beautiful and dreamlike, and the eMOTIONAL DAMAG- I mean impact is profound. For a relatively short novella, I took a lot of time reading and rereading certain passages, and wished I had a physical copy to annotate. It is a heavy but ultimately hopeful tale about accepting death as part of life, nature and self, moving on with - not from - grief, and loving oneself and life as they are. It can be a triggering read for individuals struggling with grief and suicidal ideation, but if one can take care of oneself and go through the story at their own pace, I think this book is absolutely worth anyone's time.
"It's easier to carry this understanding [of death/grief] with us as we go, to stop ignoring it and pretending it will never happen - because this pretending is part of what makes each loss devastate us so totally."
"When we lose someone, we are forced into the deeply lonely experience of disillusion alongside the terrible fact of our loss... we must instead wade every day into our understanding of death and how death creates meaning."
Content Warnings
Graphic: Death, Grief, Injury/Injury detail, Mental illness, Panic attacks/disorders, and Suicidal thoughts
Moderate: Body horror and Death of parent
Minor: Emotional abuse
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