Searing, heartbreaking. And beautiful and ultimately life-affirming. ( )

A writer's personal memoir of losing her daughter at 5 years old. ( )

A writer's personal memoir of losing her daughter at 5 years old. ( )

I've been reading all the books I can find on other people who have been walking the grief road ever since my husband died. There is no right way to grieve but it helps when others share what they went through. ( )

Comfort: A Journey Through Grief by Ann Hood

★★★★ ½

In 2002 acclaimed author, Ann Hood, lost her 5 year old daughter to a rare strain of strep that was in the blood. One day she was playing and enjoying time with her daughter – 36 hours later her daughter would die. This is the memoir of her tragic loss and her dealings with it over a few year period.

This memoir struck home. No parent wants to lose their child, regardless of age or situation; it’s a parent’s worst nightmare. This was a short and quick read for me. Very well done and to the point, Ann Hood throws her feelings out there about faith (or lack of it), the emptiness in her home and her life, the depression and grief, the breakdowns, the struggle to continue. I just nodded throughout this book. It was as if she was throwing out MY emotions for the world to see. It was...well...a comfort, just as the title says. It is a beautiful memoir, regardless of whether one is a parent or not. One may relate to it and even if they can’t they may have the sense to give their loved ones that extra hug and extra “I love you” because life and those in it are a beautiful, and sometimes tragic, thing.

A line that particularly touched me – “Time doesn’t heal, I had learned, it just keeps moving. And it takes us with it.”

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