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lady_curmudgeon) wrote2011-08-20 07:46 pm
lady_curmudgeon) wrote2011-08-20 07:46 pm
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book 8, 2011
The Orphaned Adult: Understanding and Coping with Grief and Change After the Death of our Parents, Alexander Levy, 4 out of 5 stars.
From amazon.com:
"Losing our parents when we ourselves are adults is in the natural order of things, a rite of passage into true adulthood. But whether we lose them suddenly or after a prolonged illness, and whether we were close to or estranged from them, this passage proves inevitably more difficult than we thought it would be. A much-needed and knowledgeable discussion of this adult phenomenon, The Orphaned Adult validates the wide array of disorienting emotions that can accompany the death of our parents by sharing both the author's heart-felt experience of loss and the moving stories of countless adults who have shared their losses with him. From the recognition of our own mortality and sudden child-like sorrow to a sometimes-subtle change in identity or shift of roles in the surviving family, The Orphaned Adult guides readers through the storm of change this passage brings and anchors them with its compassionate and reassuring wisdom."
~~~~~~~
I've had this book since right after Mom died, but never managed to read it all the way through until now. I picked it up again after a wave of unexpected grief over my parents engulfed me last month; seeking some answers to the bewildering feelings I was having, I figured I might as well try to get through the book again to see if it could provide any resolution or answers to it all. It was a good choice. I saw a lot of myself in the stories Levy wrote of his own experiences and in those of others he wrote about in the book. It reinforced things my therapist and I have talked about over the years since I became an "orphan", and it taught me some new things as well. A reassuring, healing read.
From amazon.com:
"Losing our parents when we ourselves are adults is in the natural order of things, a rite of passage into true adulthood. But whether we lose them suddenly or after a prolonged illness, and whether we were close to or estranged from them, this passage proves inevitably more difficult than we thought it would be. A much-needed and knowledgeable discussion of this adult phenomenon, The Orphaned Adult validates the wide array of disorienting emotions that can accompany the death of our parents by sharing both the author's heart-felt experience of loss and the moving stories of countless adults who have shared their losses with him. From the recognition of our own mortality and sudden child-like sorrow to a sometimes-subtle change in identity or shift of roles in the surviving family, The Orphaned Adult guides readers through the storm of change this passage brings and anchors them with its compassionate and reassuring wisdom."
~~~~~~~
I've had this book since right after Mom died, but never managed to read it all the way through until now. I picked it up again after a wave of unexpected grief over my parents engulfed me last month; seeking some answers to the bewildering feelings I was having, I figured I might as well try to get through the book again to see if it could provide any resolution or answers to it all. It was a good choice. I saw a lot of myself in the stories Levy wrote of his own experiences and in those of others he wrote about in the book. It reinforced things my therapist and I have talked about over the years since I became an "orphan", and it taught me some new things as well. A reassuring, healing read.