Scan barcode
A review by henrymarlene
Bedtime Story by Chloe Hooper
4.0
“ … to have no fear at all is as absurd as to be full of fear”.
How would you break the news to someone that a loved member of your family is dying? How do you have a conversation about that with their child?
Oh my heart. This book kept my tears flowing in my mind and down my cheeks. This is a touching recollection, a memoir if you will of Chloe Hooper’s partner (Don Watson – I love his book about Paul Keating) who was diagnosed with cancer. Their children are quite young, and the books works us through the anguish and uncertainty of death, and in essence, how to explain the death of a parent to a young child. At the same time, the process of how to communicate this seems like a cathartic journey for Chloe. older partner/father and two young children.
Chloe seeks out literature and books for children that talk about death, and deal with death. She buys books that address grief in ways that are suited for children, as well as looks into how death is dealt with in literature, and how several prominent authors dealt with the passing of their own parents and siblings as writers. There are illustrations, almost like monochrome watercolours in the book. They speak so much more where they are situated in this book than the words do.
This book is sweet, intimate, raw and emotional. It is honest, it captures fear and the unknown, and is comforting at the same time. I felt like a voyeur into Chloe’s life yet at the same time I felt like she had wrapped a large fluffy blanket around all of our shoulders to explain dying to us.
“If we pay attention, Death can show us how best to live.”
How would you break the news to someone that a loved member of your family is dying? How do you have a conversation about that with their child?
Oh my heart. This book kept my tears flowing in my mind and down my cheeks. This is a touching recollection, a memoir if you will of Chloe Hooper’s partner (Don Watson – I love his book about Paul Keating) who was diagnosed with cancer. Their children are quite young, and the books works us through the anguish and uncertainty of death, and in essence, how to explain the death of a parent to a young child. At the same time, the process of how to communicate this seems like a cathartic journey for Chloe. older partner/father and two young children.
Chloe seeks out literature and books for children that talk about death, and deal with death. She buys books that address grief in ways that are suited for children, as well as looks into how death is dealt with in literature, and how several prominent authors dealt with the passing of their own parents and siblings as writers. There are illustrations, almost like monochrome watercolours in the book. They speak so much more where they are situated in this book than the words do.
This book is sweet, intimate, raw and emotional. It is honest, it captures fear and the unknown, and is comforting at the same time. I felt like a voyeur into Chloe’s life yet at the same time I felt like she had wrapped a large fluffy blanket around all of our shoulders to explain dying to us.
“If we pay attention, Death can show us how best to live.”