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bookshelfkeeps's review against another edition
emotional
hopeful
informative
inspiring
reflective
medium-paced
4.0
suesklansky's review against another edition
5.0
This book came to me at the right moment in time. As I grieve an old life and charge boldly into a new life, Renkl shares her stories of love and loss that are all part of our "nature." I resonated with so many of her life experiences and felt she was talking directly to me..."Every day the world is teaching me what I need to know to be in the world." p. 126
Her brother Billy's art that graces the cover and is interspersed throughout the book are just lovely. You can see that they love and understand one another's histories.
Her brother Billy's art that graces the cover and is interspersed throughout the book are just lovely. You can see that they love and understand one another's histories.
librarian_lisa_22's review against another edition
4.0
Thoughtful glimpses of backyard nature interspersed with family memories in the first two-thirds of the book. The last third of the book was truly painful. As I navigate my mother’s lung cancer I feel the author’s anguish in every cell.
beebeewin's review against another edition
emotional
lighthearted
sad
fast-paced
4.25
I loved this books unflinching discussion and confrontation of death and grief. So many chapters hit me so hard, especially in the context of my stepfather dying. She talks of dreams where her mother is alive again and the sense of relief at thinking "oh they aren' t dead". I have had that dream. Crying and so happy to see Doug again just talking to my mom or making nachos in the kitchen. Margaret Renkl lovingly paints a portrait of her family and the loss herself, her parents, her partner, and her children had to go through. This is all intermixed with the loss and death that are just a part of nature. She makes it all seem so normal even though it is still so painful. It is a novel that made me once again lament how separate we think we are from death and loss, when in fact those things are intermingled with us. Beautiful written and so painfully honest. I won't recommend this to someone right after a loss, but it definitely is good for later and to validate all the feelings you have when a loss happens. Good read, not my favorite, but would definitely recommend and might read again.
Favorite quotes:
Pg. 207 "It occurred to me to wonder if she'd had ever, even once, loved anyone enough to fear the possibility of loss"
Pg. 218 "Here is what no one told me about grief : you inhabit it like skin... Everything you see, you see through it, like a film." "What I mean is, you are the old, ungrieving you, and you are also the new, ruined you. You are both, and you always will be. There is nothing to fear."
Favorite quotes:
Pg. 207 "It occurred to me to wonder if she'd had ever, even once, loved anyone enough to fear the possibility of loss"
Pg. 218 "Here is what no one told me about grief : you inhabit it like skin... Everything you see, you see through it, like a film." "What I mean is, you are the old, ungrieving you, and you are also the new, ruined you. You are both, and you always will be. There is nothing to fear."