A review by suegoldberg13
Spill Simmer Falter Wither by Sara Baume

5.0

It felt like I was holding my breath the entire time I read this book. So beautiful, yet so graphically wretched. The descriptions are vivid and the language is stunning. Details will spoil the story for someone just setting out on this voyage into an ocean of sadness and love. Man loses family, man finds dog, man finds self, man and dog understand life. That's all I can say but I'll sob over this one for a long while. A favorite quote from the book; man and dog are caught in a traffic jam as people gather around a swan who has been hit by a car. "I think of the jackdaw, did you see the jackdaw? We passed it in the queue to pass the swan. Its beak was cracked open, its brains squeeged out. Why didn't anybody stop for the jackdaw? Because the swan looks like a wedding dress, that's why. Whereas the jackdaw looks like a bin bag. Because this is how people measure life."