The Year of Magical Thinking

A book about processing grief, recommended on Reddit.

I have to say it has beautiful insights. The protagonist is a famous writer whose husband died suddenly, while her daughter was in a coma for weeks. The book tells of her terrible months, processing grief and taking care of her daughter. With strength and a lot of honesty. She talks a lot about the memories that surfaced, the guilt of thinking she could have prevented it, and the difficulty of returning to old places because they were full of memories.

She writes tenderly and sincerely; you can tell they lived a full life together. Often there are substantial quotations in her reflections; they were of a certain class, and I appreciated this point of view that is emotional, yes, but also ‘professional’, given that they had written other books. In fact, she does not give way to raw emotion; it is a very precise narration, analyzing how she felt.

Wonderful experience. In the end she realizes she has to leave John behind, she has to finish this year, there are new memories (e.g. a year ago John was already not here). I should have read it a year ago. A heartrending experience told very well. I hope things got better for her; I saw that she died in 2021. Her daughter too. Better to have learned that after finishing the book. I think she bore it with great strength. My respect. A book I recommend to those who are struggling.