Review: NOT THE TYPICAL "WEEPER"
Rating: 5 out of 5
Date: 06 27, 2014
I read this book several years ago and I have thought and talked about it many times since. It is a beautifully written, heartfelt story of the shocking, sudden, unexpected death of a young wife and mother and the effects on the lives of her surviving family as they try to pick up the pieces and move on.It is NOT just a "weeper" but an intimate account of the realities of death and life-after-death (for the survivors.)  It makes the reader examine his feelings about family, marriage, and parenting.  When the author's sister had to return to her own family, I was surprised that she didn't offer to take the baby with her.  I was then shocked to realize that I would never have such a reaction if the father died and the young mother was left with several children. Both the author and his wife were employed outside the home and he was certainly a "co-parent" in every sense of the word.  My only excuse is that I come from a time when fathers worked and mothers were the primary (or sole) care-givers of children.I don't think any intelligent, sensitive person can read this book without being deeply moved.  It brings home the fragility of life, which is a good thing for us all to remember.