*The Long Goodbye*

That is Meghan O’Rourke’s new book about dealing with the death of her mother.  It is difficult to excerpt usefully, but I found it striking and memorable.  It melds prose and poetic styles very effectively (O’Rourke is a well-known poet and a very good one) and it covers some relatively unexplored emotional space.  I don’t know a better book on grief.

Here is one good review of the book (1/20).  Here is another good review (1/20), combined with a justfied attack on the (to me) virtually unreadable new Francisco Goldman book.