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Book Review By Harriet Klausner
Good Grief by Lolly Winston



Warner, Apr 2004, 18.00
ISBN: 0446533041

In San Jose, thirty-six years old Sophie Stanton still mourns the loss of her spouse Ethan, who died three months ago from Hodgkin's disease. Everyone from her mother-in-law to her employer expects Sophie to get out of her funk and return to routines.

However, routines are painful as they invoke Ethan such as when Sophie drives through the garage door to inform her deceased husband that a Flip Wilson classic was on the radio. Relief from her feelings come in cartons of praline and cream for breakfast and related soul food. Work is no better as it is hard to get it up when you are responsible for running a PR campaign for a scrotal patch to help males with their testosterone count. Desperate for a change, Sophie heads to Oregon to be with her best friend and try to regain some equilibrium as she goes slowly though the stages of grieving.

This is an incredible look at the grieving process through the eyes of a person going through pain though she was prepared for her spouse's death. Most interesting is how people react to Sophie which can be categorized as either move on already or the inability to say words like cancer or death in her presence. GOOD GRIEF is a tremendous book that lucidly insists that grieving is not only personal, but breaking plates is okay if it relieves some of the stress.

Harriet Klausner


Plot & Themes
Tone of book? - thoughtful
Time/era of story - 2000+ (Present Day)
Internal struggle/realization? Yes
Is this an adult or child's book? - Adult or Young Adult Book
Coping with loss of loved one(s) Yes
Loss of...

Main Character
Gender - Female
Profession/status:
Age: - 20's-30's
Ethnicity/Nationality

Setting
How much descriptions of surroundings? - 3 ()
United States Yes
The US: - Pacific NW

Writing Style
Amount of dialog - significantly more dialog than descript
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