I found this book was more about the author than his deceased daughter or the family she left behind. I didn't really get to know her or her husband or her kids, but by the end of it I knew all about the author's written works, accolades, likes, dislikes, politcal views etc. It felt a touch 'self-centered' to me...

( )

Strangely distant for a memoir of grief. ( )

Here's what's telling: I was 50 pages in before I realized this wasn't a novel. I thought the style a little spare and I was looking for clues as to how the plot would advance; I scoured the first classroom teaching scene and thought I found the story's clue. (Perhaps I did.) I thought perhaps it was a story about God. (Perhaps it is.) The style reminded me of Nicholson Baker's A Box of Matches.

It was the comment on pg. 50 about Jim Lehrer that brought me up short. (Of course, if I had read the blurbs on the cover but I never do, quite fastidiously; they ruin books for me all too often.) This was one of about 8 books I received this Christmas as gifts, and I've been just pulling them off the shelf and diving in, one after another. This one was as if the water were salt.

It is so personal a book that I think it would be rude to comment further. I will not slice and dice a story of grieving the way I would a novel.
( )

Touching, honest, sweetly sad, and yes, funny at times. I didn't think I'd like this book as much as I did. It was read by the author on CD, and the author isn't the most exciting reader I've heard, but he got the job done. His words resonated with reality and the emotions behind the vignettes.

The book is about his grown daughter's untimely death and the aftermath when the author, a writer, and his wife go to live with their son-in-law and three young children. It's a simple book about daily routines, thoughts, small revelations, and choice moments. It's about every grandparent ever in this position and yet it's a personal story about a lovely family, simple and complex, and how they cope.

Lovingly crafted, the story is a beautiful tribute to a young mother and those she held most dear. The writing is spare and not meant to bring tears. It's uplifting and also down to earth. Bravo to the author. ( )

I give Roger Rosenblatt 4 stars for a touching series of vignettes on grief, loss and love. (Others have complained that the book doesn't really have a plot or narrative arc, but I didn't mind that.)

I deduct one star for the classism, name dropping, and unchecked privilege. ( )