Most Helpful Customer Reviews
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22 of 22 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
A great support in difficult times, 16 Jun 2003
My mother and I were each given our own copy of this book when my father died very suddenly ten years ago. Since then, I've sent it many people as a comfort in their bereavement.Its selection of poems, writing and thoughts on grief were invaluable to me. So much so that, for a period of time, I carried it with me everywhere with pictures of my dad kept in the pages of the book, marking poems I particularly liked. It may not be to everyone's taste at hard times in their lives, but this book helped me.
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1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
comfort and support from a range of authors, 30 Nov 2007
One of my close friends gave me this book after my husband died a few years ago. I read it on a daily basis in the first couple of months and found it a great source of comfort. It has a range of poems, etc which cover all aspects of bereavement. There is one piece I particularly like which describes how the dead person has 'gone into the next room, waiting for you there'. This stayed in my mind and helped me to see death as part of an ongoing cycle, not a finality. In my experience, having a chance to read about bereavement by a range of authors, helped me to deal with some of the feelings that maybe didn't come out talking to friends or family.
I have logged onto amazon today to get a copy of it for a close friend following her mother's recent death. I highly recommend it.
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5.0 out of 5 stars
In the dark hours of our lives there is no better help than this book, 8 Mar 2009
A bereavement councillor gave this book to be when I was deep in grief, and it made all the difference to me. When you are grieving it is difficult for people to help you, try though they may; and of course they do try, and that is wonderful. It does help, but you need something more, because all to often the pain is so deep that no relative or friend can really touch it.
This is where this wonderful book comes in. If I say, and it is true, that when I was given it I suddenly felt less alone, it may seem bizarre. But that's how it was. The book addresses you. Many of its extracts come from those who have grieved themselves, and this actually does reach the pain, because while you are reading it it is as though you are in the presence of a fellow sufferer, who understands what you are going through, and can help. And what this tells you is that, painful though grieving is, terrible as the pangs of grief are, that all in a way is well. Grief needs to be expressed and lived through.
Various ideas are put forward as to why the pain is so great, and I found the best of these to be that grief is the price we pay for loving. Grief is a very intense and painful experience, but if we loved the person who has died, then in a way we owe them the tears we shed. Beside such thoughts you will find the promise of recovery. It seems impossible to the person deep in grief that he or she will ever recover, but the promise of this book is that, though it may take a while, the sufferer will eventually return to his usual self. It actually says that grief can, eventually, bring out the best in you. Many, having gone through it and been shattered by it, wish to help others so stricken, and accordingly join bereavement care organisations. I did.
Since reading this book in the darkest hour of my life, I must have bought some twelve copies, which I've given to those suffering a great loss. It is written in a style that may be dipped into, and every type of grief is addressed, from losing a spouse, a child, a dear friend, a parent, to losing someone who may have taken their own life. It is worth reading even if not in grief - and it is certainly worth having a copy by one's side to pass on should a friend, or an acquaintance, be in need. I have two copies on the side, and sooner or later they will be in the hands of those who need them. Wonderful book.
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