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This was a difficult book to read. I planned to read more non-fiction this year than I have in the past, and so when I read a blurb about this book, I thought it would be a good one to add to my list. I've watched the movie, The Impossible, which is based on a true story about this same tsunami from a different perspective. In The Impossible, the family is vacationing in Thailand for Christmas, and in this book, the family is vacationing in Sri Lanka. The 2004 Indian Ocean Tsunami reached both places, and affected both families, however, one family was far more fortunate than the other. "Wave" is written by Sonali Draniyagala, who lost both of her children, her husband, and her parents in this unexpected catastrophe. She alone survived. There were so many similarities in the description of the flooding, the hospitals, the devastation, but the grief in "Wave" is unbearable. The book describes the terrifying moments the tsunami hits the southern beach of Sri Lanka, Sonali's amazing survival after being buffeted by the storm waters, her search for her family at the hospital and morgue after he rescue, and her months vacillating between grief and denial at her uncle's home in Colombo where he relatives kept a six-month suicide watch over her. It took four years before Sonali was able to go back to their home in London, where things were left just as they were the day in December, 2004, when they left for Sri Lanka just before Christmas. The stark and transparent grief, denial, and slow recovery scares me, although she eventually comes back to herself, enjoying memories of her family, while continuing to grieve and miss them. I don't know that I would handle this situation any better or differently, and reading another mother's pain is difficult. I found myself shaking while reading about the initial catastrophe, and crying, imagining her grief through the search and final loss of her family. If you're looking to expand your non-fiction reading, or are interested in reading an amazing story of survival, spend some time reading Sonali's story.