No Happy Endings: A Memoir – An Unconventional and Hilarious Tragicomic Memoir of Life, Love, Loss, and Moving Forward to Joy

by Nora McInerny

The author of It’s Okay to Laugh and host of the popular podcast Terrible, Thanks for Asking—interviews that are “a gift to be able to listen [to]” (New York Times)—returns with more hilarious meditations on her messy, wonderful, bittersweet, and unconventional life.

Life has a million different ways to kick you right in the chops. We lose love, lose jobs, lose our sense of self. For Nora McInerny, it was losing her husband, her father, and her unborn second child in one catastrophic year.

But in the wake of loss, we get to assemble something new from whatever is left behind. Some circles call finding happiness after loss “Chapter 2”—the continuation of something else. Today, Nora is remarried and mothers four children aged 16 months to 16 years. While her new circumstances bring her extraordinary joy, they are also tinged with sadness over the loved ones she’s lost.

Life has made Nora a reluctant expert in hard conversations. On her wildly popular podcast, she talks about painful experiences we inevitably face, and exposes the absurdity of the question “how are you?” that people often ask when we’re coping with the aftermath of emotional catastrophe. She knows intimately that when your life falls apart, there’s a mad rush to be okay—to find a silver lining, to get to the happy ending. In this, her second memoir, Nora offers a tragicomic exploration of the tension between finding happiness and holding space for the unhappy experiences that have shaped us.

No Happy Endings is a book for people living life after life has fallen apart. It’s a book for people who know that they’re moving forward, not moving on. It’s a book for people who know life isn’t always happy, but it isn’t the end: there will be unimaginable joy and incomprehensible tragedy. As Nora reminds us, there will be no happy endings—but there will be new beginnings.

Genres: Memoir, Nonfiction, Grief, Audiobook, Biography Memoir, Biography, Humor

288 pages, Paperback

First published January 15, 2019

Reviews

[Elyse Walters · Rating 4 out of 5]

Audiobook….read by Nora McInerny
….7 hours and 58 minutes

Nora McInerny is a terrific speaker and very likable.
This memoir - with her reading it - was my first introduction to her.

We learn right away that Nora lost her first husband to brain cancer. Their only son was just a toddler at the time. Her father died - she had a miscarriage — (was definitely grieving)…..but/and a year later was re-married to another wonderful man and his two children.

In audiobook excellence…I was pulled in right away …
“I liked it -I liked Nora” I kept finding my inner voice share.
But ….I also thought…
“Read something else”….
I understand grief in my own way ….but thankfully, I haven’t experienced the death of a spouse, nor a divorce, nor a miscarriage nor a blended family.
So I started to doubt my time spent with “No Happy Endings”….
- not because I wasn’t feeling things and enjoying the experience of ‘being’ with Nora as I might with an honest to goodness girlfriend….
but I knew I had other audiobooks which just came in from the library and other ebooks on my kindle …
that was surely more valuable of my time?/!/?
WRONG….
….right about the time when I was considering letting this book go—it got so damn interesting and thought-provoking.
So…..
…..I now didn’t just enjoy this lovely funny woman— but I was seeing ‘real value’ in examining ‘grief’ in new ways.

Let me give a personal example …
I have several, (actually more than several), friends and my first cousin, who sadly lost their child.
Each of these friends dealt with grief differently….(very differently)….
Some people never recover from the loss of a spouse or a child. My mother didn’t. She was only 34 years of age… and loved my father more than life itself.
My older sister and I lost our mother — emotionally— and in many other ways the day my father died too.

One of my girlfriends — whom we once did everything with (lives 10 minutes from me) …. has still not recovered since their 32 year old son died seven years ago …
I lost our easy-going-playful friendship …
I still love her — but have only seen her 3 times now in the seven years since her son’s death….and I can walk to her house.
Our husband’s friendship took a loss too —
Our ‘couple’ time has never returned ….
But….
I also know other stories- in which my friends were able ‘have’ their grief … but also live a happy loving enjoyable life …

As adorably funny and charming Nora McInerny is ….
what I appreciate more … is knowing this book could make a sincere difference to anyone who has experienced a major loss ….

The narrative is not over simplified but thankfully it’s not horribly bleak.

The topics in here about grief, hiding it, moving on, trying to find closure, how to be, what to say, how to live, what about the nitty-gritty-daily- things to do- to pay - what chronic grief is, finding good things after loss, etc.,
are topics exceptionally done well without being hit over the head with a baseball bat.

In conversational style. The discussions open up new thoughts …new questions to discuss…
And Nora McInerny did this memoir great justice.

I personally recommend it…
to those ‘who-have-or-have-not’ lived through a painful devastating loss.

“No Happy Endings” reminds me of a quote by Shel Silverstein…..
“There are no happy endings. Endings are the saddest part. So give me a happy middle. And a very happy start”.

[Rebecca · Rating 3 out of 5]

“Everything good in my life had a sad aftertaste. Everything good in my life had come from loss. Everything sweet was just a little bitter.” I didn’t appreciate this as much as It’s Okay to Laugh, McInerny’s first memoir, although it’s in the same style: lots of short, witty but bittersweet essays reflecting on life’s losses. In this follow-up, she writes about what happened next for her after she became a reluctant grief expert when her father, first husband and unborn baby all died in a matter of weeks. Within a year of becoming a widow, she’d met a new partner and soon was – surprise! – pregnant with his baby. Together they formed a blended family of four children ranging from 0 to 15 and two wounded adults (Matthew had gone through a bitter divorce). She also writes about her newfound spirituality and feminism. The problem with the essay format, however, is that the author cycles through aspects of the same stories multiple times, such that the introduction’s tongue-in-cheek question (is this whole book going to be her complaining that she got to fall in love twice?!) is rather apt. [She also couldn’t figure out the lay/lie distinction to save her life!] My sister has been greatly helped by the Hot Young Widows Club, so I’m grateful to McInerny for her writing and her charitable work, but would direct readers to her first book over this one.

[Christine (Queen of Books) · Rating 5 out of 5]

Thank you to Nora McInerny for a free finished copy of No Happy Endings.

It's amazing how sometimes a book can just hit you at the right time. No Happy Endings did that for me. This is a book I needed to be reading tonight, and I was reading it because Nora mailed me a copy and maybe I also needed that surprise act of genuine kindness. (Honestly, it's going to take me months to stop being excited that I own a book signed by #ralphiegrams. Note this wasn't in exchange for review, literally just a super nice gift.)

This book is about persisting, and loving, and people. It's about religion and feminism. But it's also funny? And entertaining? Except then you might cry. Basically: this book covers some ground. I think it's similar in feel to It's Okay to Laugh, while perhaps more often taking a big picture view of things (e.g., dating, gender norms, grieving). I did find No Happy Endings to be a bit better written (which feels like a slam on the first book, though it's not! Read that one too). Both these books hit me. It's like if Oprah were 3 decades younger; lost her baby, dad, and husband in short succession; and had a tendency to ramble. (Yes, that's absolutely a high compliment.)

There's a lot packed into this one (< 300-page) book but I hope what really cuts through is that loss is not something to "get over." Like, when someone dies, it's not as if they never existed. And if you're happy a year later, it's not as if you're no longer sad they died. As Nora puts it, there are "multitudes included in all our experiences." (She says a lot more, but I don't want to ruin the reading experience for you.) This memoir comforted me, made me reflect, and taught me - all while being engaging. Highly recommend.

[Alex · Rating 2 out of 5]

I am a religious listener of Nora McInerney's podcast. The great insights and compassion she shows her interviewees and the way she tells their complex stories is the podcast's highlight. The low-light (for me - this might not be everyone's experience) is hearing Nora carry on about herself and make her own story 1) somehow part of everyone else's and 2) saccharine and melodramatic. I'm not sure why I thought a whole 7 hours of listening to her talk about herself was a good idea. I'll keep up with the podcast because her intelligence and compassion shines when she focuses on others - but it doesn't work for me when it's all about her.

[Melora · Rating 4 out of 5]

I've never heard Nora McInerny's podcast, “Terrible, Thanks for Asking,” but reading No Happy Endings has very much of a podcast feel to it. Casual, conversational, littered with profanity and pop culture references. She comes across as likeable and sympathetic even while sharing what at least feels like a “warts and all” tale of the guilt, pain, fears, and longings she suffered during the past three(?) years of rebuilding her life since her husband's death from brain cancer. What makes the telling engaging rather than excruciating, of course, is that she (mostly) succeeds in balancing “true confession” with humor. Also, we learn right at the beginning that the story she will tell us has a hopeful, if not a completely “happy,” ending.

While I haven't read a huge number of books on grief, I have read some, and this is a nice addition to the genre. McInerny explores the uncomfortable feelings of conflict, guilt, and remorse which ensue (always? usually?) when one has lost a loved person and continues to live and build a new life. McInerny has the added pain of knowing that her new family – her stepchildren and the baby she has with her second husband – wouldn't exist if her first husband hadn't died tragically young and left her a widow. That's a lot of emotion to deal with, and in some of the best parts of the book she talks about how relationships with family, friends, and her faith (non-traditional) helped her navigate through the worst of it.

Loss is a topic often on my mind these days. In February of 2018 my mother died of dementia and cancer, and in March of this year my “baby” brother was killed in a car accident, and, while my losses are not comparable with those of my dad or my sister-in-law or my brother's kids, they've left holes in my heart that ache. My daughter scolds me, saying “You've got to stop reading sad books!” (and I don't read only sad books), but somehow it is helpful to see how other people have experienced grief. As a bonus, McInerny's book helped me understand what might have led my dad to begin dating only six months after my mom's death and immediately fall in love and get engaged. I've been supportive of his choice, of course, but initially I felt like... “Well, dang!, Dad! Fifty-three years with Mom and you find a new wife in six months? Really?” (In fairness, his fiance is a sweet woman and we get along very well.) McInerny's confessions of her loneliness after her husband's death and her need for physical companionship reminded me that his experience was probably not unusual. And when she describes her relief when her dead husband's mother supports her decision to remarry I made a mental note to offer similar support to my sister-in-law if/when she decides to marry again.

My only complaint about the book seems nitpicky, but it drove me nuts and was completely unnecessary. McInerny does not know how to use “lay/lie” and consistently writes about “laying in bed” and “I laid in bed.” I don't know if her editor left her mistakes with the idea that they add folksy charm to the book, but the frequent errors grated on my nerves. Otherwise, though, this is a good story with helpful insights on the experience of bereavement, engagingly presented.

[Katelyn · Rating 4 out of 5]

Wow. Nora McInery's writing style is hilarious and real. She bravely bares it all in this book, going through the many mixed emotions she felt after falling in love again a little over 6 months after her first husband died of brain cancer at 35. After dating her soon to be second husband, Matthew, for a few months, she becomes pregnant, and they merge their families--his 14 and 9 year olds with her 3 year old. I can't overstate how much I enjoyed McInery's writing. This book is about sad, tough things (as well as happy things), and it is super readable. She also has quite a few chapters in here that feel like separate essays (I'm assuming they were previously written as such then collected here), but I was so charmed by her style that I didn't mind. Interesting thoughts on feminism, parenting, and how you live when people close to you have died.

[Kaloyana · Rating 3 out of 5]

Between 3 and 4 stars.
Mostly I like it, but also I see it like Nora McInerny is actually more confident in giving advices that she should be. And this is not an accusation for her, it is a setback of the book. Because if she wants to be someone who advices people, who have been and still are grieving after a big loss, she should try to talk to people who didn't find another best husband and family and friends and everything so soon. Of course, I am sure it is disguised under the mask of this-is-my-kind-of experience-that-I-share, but also OK, so what?
And by the way, the thing that looks like she most fears is that people are going to say that she doesn't love her first dead now husband, if she found love again so soon. But actually she might be surprised that people don't give so much thought on that. It gets you thinking - if she doesn't feel guilty, why she has to say it so many times in so many ways? No one cares.
Anyway, I like her writing style, and also some ideas, but there is this notion like somehow she is trying too hard convince her/me? in what exactly? Don't know. It wasn't necessary to repeat so many times that her husband, the person she loves most, died of cancer/brain tumor so many times in the book.
Besides that I love those kind of books that share true experience that might be helpful to read for other people.

[Melissa · Rating 2 out of 5]

I really don't know about this book. There were some very deep and thoughtful perspectives that were good takeaways, but the author didn't paint herself in the best light. I'm not really sure she came across as likeable. Yes she experienced great loss (husband, father, and baby) in a very short time and there's certainly compassion for her in that loss, but the way she described her life with her new husband was odd. I'm not sure if she was trying to be funny and self-deprecating. She often came across as selfish, self-centered, and whiny. There were times she sounded like a great mom and partner and other times where she sounded like a complete nightmare. It's almost as if she were a Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde. I don't know there was something about the way she talked about herself that just rubbed me the wrong way. Despite that, her discussion on love and loss and even working in a male-dominated environment offered some interesting insight.

[Tyler McCubbin · Rating 5 out of 5]

“And is where the good part happens. The good part is a conjunction? You bet it is. Because ‘and’ is about possibility and opportunity. ‘And’ includes ‘what is’ and makes room for ‘what could be’. ‘And’ doesn’t require you to love the situation, or to like the situation; it just requires you to live.” (267-68)

Being my first memoir in a LONG time, this was just everything that I needed at this point in my life to read and reflect on. Certainly not because I’ve experienced the same type of loss or grief as Nora has, but because I’ve experienced grief in what I see as having lost something of my career, of my old ways. It’s tough to lose something that you have held close to you, but what’s more important is the ‘and’, for what possibilities are available.

[✩ Yaz ✩ · Rating 3 out of 5]

3 - ⭐️⭐️⭐️

"Grief is a by-product of love. We don't grieve what we don't love."

In No Happy Endings, Nora McInery tells the story of grief and loss through her experience of losing her first husband, father and unborn child within the same year. She tells the story of second chances at love and happiness after the tragedies she had been through by meeting Matthew and having another baby.

I thought the writing of the author is neat and straightforward and also fast-paced.

It felt like Nora and I were sitting on a couch nearby a fireplace with a cup of coffee in hand while I'm listening to her story.

I cannot imagine the depth of Nora's grief and I admire her resilience despite it all.

However, the way this book was written is an issue for me because it felt repetitive throughout the chapters. I've experienced grief at all stages of my life and I may not resonate with some of her thoughts since I've never been a mother or a wife, but there were thoughts I connected with and thoughts I did not.

I know it's a memoir, maybe I was looking for a deeper insight into grief? Nora mostly focused on the guilt she felt for loving Matthew after Aaron's death. She goes into great detail about it.

It was a good read for me but I didn't take away much from it after I turned the last page and that what prompted me to give it a 3-star rating.

[Naila Fodor · Rating 5 out of 5]

I listened to the audio version narrated by McInery herself, and I loved every minute of it. McInery is honest, and brave, and wickedly witty as she tells her story about love, loss, life, and what it means to move forward.
Even though I haven’t experienced the type of loss McInerny had, I still identified with her. Especially her personal account about antepartum depression. It put into words so much of what I’ve gone through but too guilty, ashamed or afraid to share. And now i feel like it wasn’t just me and I have that friend who understands and telling me that I wasn’t the only one.
This memoir is a must read for everyone because let’s face it we all have experienced loss and heartache. McInery comforted, inspired, and taught me that there will be no happy endings but new beginnings. And she reminded me of that improv mantra from my days at Second city: “Yes, and...” because “yes, and” brings you possibility, “yes, but” cuts you off at the knees.

“The world does break everyone that is a damn guarantee. The world breaks everyone and everything. Family’s are snapped apart by death, money, drugs divorce the wrong things said at the wrong time to the wrong sibling who will never let it go...“

[KP · Rating 3 out of 5]

I love her sense of humor, and think her resilience is amazing, so my rating of this book doesn't reflect how I feel about the material as a whole. I just felt that several of the chapters were somewhat repetitive, and could have been condensed into one chapter, or perhaps more focused. I still appreciated reading this follow up to her first book, however, and think she's a wonderful writer.

[Katie Caporale · Rating 5 out of 5]

I listened to the audio version of this book, narrated by the author, and I highly recommend. She basically just says it all....all the hard stuff and all the daily mundane stuff with utter honesty and wicked humor. She is very, very sarcastic but also seems to wear her heart on her sleeve. Another book that had me laughing so hard, out loud, on multiple occasions, where people in the cars next to be may have thought I was a little crazy. The tears came too but this memoir exuded hope that after walking through the toughest of times, there just may be something beautiful waiting on the other side.

[Joanie · Rating 5 out of 5]

* happy sigh * I love Nora McInerny so much. Her first book (which was also excellent) was about grief in its acute sense: the shock and intense pain of losing someone you love. This book is also about grief, but it’s more about how one goes about living with grief. How do you keep going when you have this pain that never completely goes away? Her answer to that question isn’t really an answer; instead, she offers more questions that show how complicated, tragic and wonderful it is to be human. I so recommend this.

[Gina · Rating 5 out of 5]

I just love Nora. I took the long way to work when I downloaded the book and found myself laughing till there were tears, then sitting in my car crying till I was laughing. It took me two days to finish. ❤️

[Fishgirl · Rating 5 out of 5]

I WILL be back because I have so much to say about this book. I wish I knew how I came to it - was it a "Goodreads" recommendation? I think the librarian who is my friend maybe put it on hold for me. I'll ask her next time I see her. Yeah, I have a lot to say about this. I'll be backkkkkkkk...
Okay, I'm back. Tea at hend. I'd never heard of NOra McInerny before reading this memoir. I kind of think I saw it here in the list on "Goodreads" that says something akin to "you might like this because you liked that." However it happened, I had the book.

You know how I always am going ON AND ON about right book, right time? Well, it's still probably number one song on my playlist. Right book, right time.

Also, it occurred to me that my five stars may have readers feeling a bit "fighgirl who cried wolf" phenomenon. I ponder that. I was going to give this a four but no, five. I finished it in a hotel room while my granddaughter slept in the next bed (dance competition) and it was the wee hours of the morning and I was reading it under the covers (new dimensions to menopausal sweating) so as not to wake her and crying because the writing was very moving to me.

Are there a few glitches in this memoir? Oh, sure. Yes. Not many, but a few. But really, if I am reading and crying at 6 AM, writer, you have done your job. Yep.

Memoir, it's a brave format. Oh yeah. Is she telling us what to do, how to feel? No. Not at all. She's not. I mean, if it sounds like she is I think it's only because she feels things really strongly and writing is how she makes sense of the world in front of her. She started two non-profits. I looked at them last night. And I'm sure (haters gonna hate) there are people who could piss all over some aspect of that but I think she did it out of a place of love and caring so I'm not reading any negative stuff. I am not reading the one star reviews of this book. No. I like her. Obviously. And even though we are a whole different generation and her experiences are starkly different from my experiences, there is a commonality of respecting the power of language and the huge world-shifting power of love. I agree with. her. I agree with Nora. Yes. Nodding.

Disclaimer - I worked for six years in palliative care and I am not a stranger to losing people I love in my life so I think that does make me nod more at this book than maybe someone for whom the thought of losing people you love dearly is an abstract notion.

The banana muffins are going to burn, I have to go now.

Love up the people you love. Love them up big. See the incredible beauty in the world, even when it breaks your heart.

Still kicking,
Pam/Fishgirl

[Beth · Rating 4 out of 5]

I'm a big fan of Nora's podcast (Terrible, Thanks for Asking), a source that helped me confront my own grief after a number of losses in a short period of time. I'll admit that I've always had a hard time accepting that I "enjoy" work like this because in order for it to exist someone has had to suffer deeply, but it's reality that we don't live in a perfect world and life can be difficult and thank god for writers who share their stories with us. This isn't a manual on how to grieve or even what to expect when someone you love dies, although it's definitely info you can glean throughout, but more a collection of honest memories and reflections on her life before and after losing her father, a pregnancy, and her husband, Aaron, in a short period of time. This memoir is filled with sorrow, I cried more than I ever have while reading, but Nora's humor also shines. I just really appreciated her honesty with grief and her openness to share this story with the world. I loved that she added bits about all the little things that characterized her relationship with her husband, the things that made them such a great team. It's really something to witness someone's dearest memories and be able to honor that love. Would definitely recommend to any reader.
Some of the excerpts that spoke to me:
The author's uncle on sorrow: "It simply has to be gone through. When I come to in the morning, before I'm fully awake, I have this vague, weighty sense of unease, as if there is something radically wrong with the world, and I don't quite know what it is. Then I remember."
McInerny: "The years will roll on. More joy. More pain. More possibility. More yes. More and. More."

[Sarah · Rating 4 out of 5]

I really enjoyed listening to Nora McInerny's memoir via audiobook. I have a hard time giving star ratings to memoirs. It probably speaks to my current head space, but what stood out to me most was how she described love, and finding love again after loss. I can't confirm these quotes are fully accurate, as I tried to scribble them down, but I thought they were nice descriptions of love:

"the only secret about love that you really need to know is that even when you feel like you've worn it out, or used it all up, it's always, always, in your power to make more." 

"love is the truest magic we do for one another. there is no potion or spell for it, there is just the dazzling act of choosing to be there for one another, over and over and over again."

[Kelly Hager]

This book is exactly what I needed. It's sad---heartbreakingly so---in parts. But it's also hopeful and warm, and it's so, so funny.

Nora is my imaginary best friend, and she's very real in this. There are a lot of emotions (not all of them sad ones although obviously when you lose a baby, your dad and your husband in back to back losses, there are plenty of sad ones) and we feel them all with her. 

I believe this will be on a lot of Best Of lists this year and it deserves its space on all of them.

Highly recommended.

[Lauren · Rating 5 out of 5]

I will read anything Nora McInerny writes. She has a way with humor and honesty, that I dream of. Nora makes me feel like even the worst of the absolute worst happens, you can fall apart, and figure out your own timeline to pick yourself back up. And when you pick yourself back up, to know that you will look totally different.

[Afsi · Rating 2 out of 5]

Such a self absorbed over the top melodramatic retelling of her own story- glad she made it through a series of terrible losses and found happiness - two stars for that. Otherwise, pretty shallow stuff here!

[bijal · Rating 5 out of 5]

❤💯👊🏽😭😫😍🤷🏽‍♀️🤔😢😊🙌🏽🙁🤣🙋🏽‍♀️❤💯🤯👏🏽👀❤😥🙂🤗❤❤❤❤❤❤❤

[Lara · Rating 5 out of 5]

"If something extraordinary happens to you, why shouldn't it happen twice? Be just as likely to happen again? Why should I be surprised to find myself here? Why shouldn't I be feeling this electric rush of new love?"

"I'd married Aaron, and I'd married his whole family. We just didn't know how to be family without him ... You lose your son, or your husband, and then what do you lose? More people. Lots of people. Not to death itself, but as the emotional aftermath."

"Parenting is work, and so is love. I used to think of that as a negative aspect of love, but it's anything but negative. Love is work. It's work that is worth doing. Telling our kids that love is easy and effortless is a disservice to them. Because love challenges us and stretches us. It will help us grow, and if you remember being an adolescent, you know that it hurts to grow."

"The best thing our bodies do is just exist. They show up and carry us through the world."

"Remember how Hillary Clinton was diagnosed with RBF for not smiling enough during the presidential debates, and alternately described as crazy, grandmotherly, or condescending when she smiled too much. It's so much fun to be a woman!"

[Jess Kuusi · Rating 5 out of 5]

Nora has a way of making you want to shed tears and laugh all in the same breath, and this memoir is no different. I was lucky enough to see Nora during her book reading last week and she's just as charming in person as she writes in her book. We all have hard things, and Nora is phenomenal at making you feel like your own things are okay, and that there's no timeline to any feelings you have, there's no need to conform to social norms, and there's no reason you need to be ashamed of anything you're feeling. The story of Nora's life is heart wrenching, but she's turned her grief and heartache into something so beautiful.

[Rachel · Rating 5 out of 5]

Read this in one sitting. Nora McInery Purmont is HILARIOUS and an inspiration to say the LEAST. This is coming from someone who has felt the weight of despair and suffering on her shoulders first hand and knows the darkness and hopelessness it brings. Thank you a million times, Nora. Your words mean SO MUCH to me.

[Zuzana · Rating 3 out of 5]

3.5
This could have been a solid 4 star read but then I found the letters to the kids redundant and the political writing digressive.

[Ericka Clou · Rating 3 out of 5]

My rating is perhaps more about my expectations than the quality of the book. So let me explain my expectations first. I read It's Okay To Laugh and found it somewhat helpful with coping with the death of my father (and later the death of my mother). I subsequently followed Nora McInerny's personal life (on Instagram and whatnot) and professional life, occasionally dipping into her podcast, Terrible, Thanks for Asking. So I expected this sequel of sort to include some personal memoir progressing her story but also a book helpful to the range of loss she heard so much about on her podcast.

Unfortunately, this was hyper-focused on her personal story, which despite the loss of her own father, seemed to be useful mostly to young widows. I would definitely recommend this book to a young widow (5 stars for that) but for people suffering other kinds of losses, there are better choices.

And then randomly she throws in a chapter on feminism. Look, I love feminism books, especially those written by activists and scholars, but I also love books with theses and organizing principles.

Sorry if you read this, Nora-- I still love you from afar!

[Chrissy · Rating 3 out of 5]

OK so the gist of this book and Nora's platform in general is that grief is messy. She definitely illustrates this well by revealing some of *major side-eye* the messy choices she made after major loss. I'm happy I waited until my book club's discussion to rate this as I really missed that theme since I didn't read her first book and don't listen to her podcast.
What is left out, that I think needs exploring, is how responsible are grieving people for their actions that harm/affect others?

[Donna · Rating 3 out of 5]

I read a lot of autobiographies and mostly I haven't even heard of the person before reading it....that is the case here. This book didn't resonate with me. I know the author experienced huge loss, but it seemed that was set on the back burner so something else could be launched. I appreciated some of her humor, but sometimes it felt overwrought. I do admire her strength in doing what she had to do and for sharing her story, so 3 stars for this one.

[L7xm · Rating 2 out of 5]

سنة سقط فيها جنينها وتوفى زوجها بسرطان الدماغ ومات والدها، كان بالإمكان أن تتحدث عن الأمومة و البنوة و الزوجية..هي صانعة محتوى كذلك وهذا موضوع آخر ملفت، لكنها لم تطرق أبواب تلك المواضيع بل مرت عليها مروراً، الكتاب من أوله إلى آخره محاولة لكشف مشاعرها ونفسيتها تلك الفترة..لكن في مثل هذه التجربة يكون هذا إجحاف.