Příběh o ztrátě, zármutku a kuráži. Ben je mladý a úspěšný, má roztomilého synka a před sebou zářivou perspektivu. Když jde jednou s manželkou Desreen v Londýně po ulici, náhle ji srazí auto. Jemu se na poslední chvíli podařilo uskočit i s kočárkem. Ve vteřině je z Bena vdovec, který se musí sám postarat o své šokované dítě. Za dva měsíce po ztrátě milované ženy se pustí do psaní blogu. Odmítá konvenční představy o žalu a chce přimět lidi, aby otevřeně hovořili o svých zážitcích. Zakrátko má Život vdovce milion zhlédnutí a rozpoutá debatu o tom, jak vypadá realita ztráty a zármutku…
This sad true story of It's Not Raining, Daddy, It's Happy, has brought back memories for me. A few years ago a friend of mine was walking home from a social club, knocked over on the pavement by a speeding car. To make matters worse there was not an amblance immediately available and my friend died. She was always making people laugh never said a bad word to anyone. In the last 6 months my dog died, my aunt very suddenly died,and an old lady I visited regularly died.
When I bought this book I did not know this book was a true story by Benjamin Brooks-Dutton . I think that Ben is incredibly brave to write this heartbreaking story about how his wife died.
On 10th november 2010 Ben Brooks-Dutton's wife was knocked down and killed by an out- of - controll car as he walked beside her, pushing their two-year-old son Jackson in his buggy. In the instant Desreen lost her life. Ben at the age of 33, was lost, broken and afraid of the future. He felt he needed guidence from men in similar situations but there was none to be found. There was no support group or club set up for young, widowed fathers. Two onths after Desreen's death Ben started a blog, about his experiences of grief. Within a year Life as a Widower Bens blog had recieved a million hits. Ben's blog is www.lifeasawidower.com
Early on in the book, the author says that spouses of cancer patients don't grieve until their spouses die. I can tell you from experience, and from reading about anticipatory grief, that this is not the case. I don't begrudge the author this error, but wish that the editor & publisher had been more careful in publishing a book that was going to be read by so many grieving parents.
What a wonderful and heartfelt book. I felt the need to keep reading, it felt wrong to put it down somehow. I bought this book after being moved to tears by a session with the Author at britmums 2013. The love he has for his wife is evident on every page.
The early part of the book was interesting and its a good thing that child bereavement has been brought to light and a support community has been created.
Unfortunately (as no doubt with bereavement itself) the narrative starts to go around in circles and repeat itself and the book is about 100 pages too long. It mainly covers the first year and it would have been interesting to get to the court case and outcome of that but presumably the idea was to get it published sooner rather than later when public interest had waned. A swift look on Google supplied the answers I was looking for in that respect.
Benjamin Brooks-Dutton is incredibly well spoken. While I didn't agree 100% with everything he says it's OK. He acknowledges that everyone is different. Put into words many feelings I have had over the past year without having the talent to put it to paper.