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The Heart and Other Monsters
A riveting, deeply personal exploration of the opioid crisis-an empathic memoir infused with hints of true crime.
In November 2013, Rose Andersen's younger sister Sarah died of an overdose in the bathroom of her boyfriend's home in a small town with one of the highest rates of opioid use in the state. Like too many of her generation, she had become addicted to heroin. Sarah was 24 years old.
To imagine her way into Sarah's life and her choices, Rose revisits their volatile childhood, marked by their stepfather's omnipresent rage. As the dysfunction comes into focus, so does a broader picture of the opioid crisis and the drug rehabilitation industry in small towns across America. And when Rose learns from the coroner that Sarah's cause of death was a methamphetamine overdose, the story takes a wildly unexpected turn.
As Andersen sifts through her sister's last days, we come to recognize the contours of grief and its aftermath: the psychic shattering which can turn to anger, the pursuit of ever an ever-elusive verdict, and the intensely personal rites of imagination and art needed to actually move on.
Reminiscent of Alexandria Marzano-Lesnevich's The Fact of a Body, Maggie Nelson's Jane: A Murder, and Lacy M. Johnson's The Other Side, Andersen's debut is a potent, profoundly original journey into and out of loss.
In November 2013, Rose Andersen's younger sister Sarah died of an overdose in the bathroom of her boyfriend's home in a small town with one of the highest rates of opioid use in the state. Like too many of her generation, she had become addicted to heroin. Sarah was 24 years old.
To imagine her way into Sarah's life and her choices, Rose revisits their volatile childhood, marked by their stepfather's omnipresent rage. As the dysfunction comes into focus, so does a broader picture of the opioid crisis and the drug rehabilitation industry in small towns across America. And when Rose learns from the coroner that Sarah's cause of death was a methamphetamine overdose, the story takes a wildly unexpected turn.
As Andersen sifts through her sister's last days, we come to recognize the contours of grief and its aftermath: the psychic shattering which can turn to anger, the pursuit of ever an ever-elusive verdict, and the intensely personal rites of imagination and art needed to actually move on.
Reminiscent of Alexandria Marzano-Lesnevich's The Fact of a Body, Maggie Nelson's Jane: A Murder, and Lacy M. Johnson's The Other Side, Andersen's debut is a potent, profoundly original journey into and out of loss.
208 pages, Hardcover
First published July 7, 2020
51 people are currently reading
2247 people want to read
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 98 reviews
April 9, 2020
I enjoyed this memoir by Rose Andersen, reading it in one sitting. I’m not quite sure how to tell you about it beyond that, it’s still swirling around in my mind. It’s about her dysfunctional family, the opioid crisis, the rehabilitation business, and the loss of her sister to an overdose under strange circumstances at her sister’s boyfriend’s house. The true crime is pretty subtle in this book. Mostly memoir. Advanced electronic review copy was provided by NetGalley, author Rose Anderson, and Bloomsbury Publishing.
November 23, 2020
"I hate who I am. I hate the person that drugs make me into. It is not me anymore breathing my breath- it is all the drugs- talking, laughing, crying through my life. You might as well suck the coating off me, chop me up and snort me.- Sarah's Journal, April 5, 2007"
Reading stories of other people's struggles with addiction hits really close to home for me. It brings back terrible memories of what my family went through when I was younger. It's hard to talk about but we all grow and learn from mistakes. It pains me to think about what my Mom-Mom went through with some of her children.
This heart-wrenching memoir of Rose and what her family went through with her sister's addiction and overdose hit me like a ton of bricks. It brought back so many memories and emotions in me that I almost broke down at work while reading. This is never an easy subject to discuss but it's an important one.
Rose doesn't hold back as she describes her life with and without her Sister in it. She pulls no punches as she describes the anguishing heartbreak of dealing with her own struggles and the ones thrown at her. As much as she was willing to give up to help someone she loved so dearly, the only way to help someone is if they are willing to accept that help. It's no easy feat.
The Heart and Other Monsters was a deeply emotional read that sometimes felt fictional but wasn't. It tugged me into a dark hole of my childhood and I'm glad that Rose shed some light on things that I never fully understood. Things that I never thought I would be able to pick apart myself. We never know what someone is going through. Before we judge someone, we need to know their story and listen to them. We don't know unless we ask and offer support.
Reading stories of other people's struggles with addiction hits really close to home for me. It brings back terrible memories of what my family went through when I was younger. It's hard to talk about but we all grow and learn from mistakes. It pains me to think about what my Mom-Mom went through with some of her children.
This heart-wrenching memoir of Rose and what her family went through with her sister's addiction and overdose hit me like a ton of bricks. It brought back so many memories and emotions in me that I almost broke down at work while reading. This is never an easy subject to discuss but it's an important one.
Rose doesn't hold back as she describes her life with and without her Sister in it. She pulls no punches as she describes the anguishing heartbreak of dealing with her own struggles and the ones thrown at her. As much as she was willing to give up to help someone she loved so dearly, the only way to help someone is if they are willing to accept that help. It's no easy feat.
The Heart and Other Monsters was a deeply emotional read that sometimes felt fictional but wasn't. It tugged me into a dark hole of my childhood and I'm glad that Rose shed some light on things that I never fully understood. Things that I never thought I would be able to pick apart myself. We never know what someone is going through. Before we judge someone, we need to know their story and listen to them. We don't know unless we ask and offer support.
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September 13, 2025Not going to star this. I can't judge because I have no idea what the author was trying to accomplish other than cementing her own catharsis. Abandoned at 28% Intellectually smart emotionally idiotic people hurtling toward death. At some point, an early demise seems like the best ending for every person here, and that truth is simply too depressing. The writing is good enough. It never sings and no recounting transcends reportage, but it is technically pretty good reportage. There is no building of empathy or understanding. This is all just an opportunity to gawk and thank whatever force or deity you believe in that you are not any of these people, and that you don't know any of these people. This defines trauma porn, and that doesn't work for me. It makes A Heartbreaking Work of Staggering Genius seem like a Hallmark Christmas movie.
October 24, 2020
Profoundly affecting and yet lacking, this book gives the reader altogether too much and not enough at the same time. Detailing her sister's struggle with addiction, the book becomes far too introspective at some junctures, and it seems to take a direction that comes across as just a little too self absorbed. There's only so much one can put in to imagining the death of a loved one, and this book is exhausting in that the microanalysis seems to confer little benefit to the author herself. Scrutinising and picking apart her sister's death seems to bring only more pain, especially as their evident estrangement becomes more apparent.
The writing is heartfelt, however, and at times, quite beautiful in the midst of all the horror. There's a lot to be learnt about loss and abuse, as well as the dangers of falling into that terrible pit of addiction, but it just loses its way in the forest of grief. It feels almost voyeuristic, and I couldn't, in good faith, appreciate it as much as I wanted to.
The writing is heartfelt, however, and at times, quite beautiful in the midst of all the horror. There's a lot to be learnt about loss and abuse, as well as the dangers of falling into that terrible pit of addiction, but it just loses its way in the forest of grief. It feels almost voyeuristic, and I couldn't, in good faith, appreciate it as much as I wanted to.
July 8, 2020
Originally published on The Nerd Daily | Review by Beth Mowbray
At the age of 24, Rose Andersen’s sister Sarah died of a drug overdose. After years of battling a heroin addiction, an overdose was not entirely unexpected; however what did surprise Rose was that it was not a heroin overdose which killed her sister, it was methamphetamine. This detail prompted a series of questions that revealed a startling web of events around Sarah’s death. The Heart and Other Monsters is Rose’s beautifully painful retracing of these events, of her sister’s life and death, in an attempt to untangle this web and reconcile the loss of a loved one.
Read the FULL REVIEW on The Nerd Daily
At the age of 24, Rose Andersen’s sister Sarah died of a drug overdose. After years of battling a heroin addiction, an overdose was not entirely unexpected; however what did surprise Rose was that it was not a heroin overdose which killed her sister, it was methamphetamine. This detail prompted a series of questions that revealed a startling web of events around Sarah’s death. The Heart and Other Monsters is Rose’s beautifully painful retracing of these events, of her sister’s life and death, in an attempt to untangle this web and reconcile the loss of a loved one.
Read the FULL REVIEW on The Nerd Daily
July 9, 2020
I do not even know where to start with my review on "The Heart and Other Monsters". It has weighed heavily on my mind and heart since the moment I finished it. At its core it is a personal exploration of the opioid crisis, but it also a physical manifestation of the grieving process.
It is not often that I read something that splits my heart wide open but this memoir did exactly that. I was left emotionally wracked as I boucned between reading words soaked in pain, regret, anger and most of all love. Even at its hardest moments, Andersons love of Sarah seeps from the pages. To loose a loved one is painful but to question your own fault as well as if death came by the hand of another, is a pain that I cannot even begin to comprehend.
Rose Anderson's memoir of her sister's life is brutally honest, heart-wrenching, raw and yet beauitful. As the opioid crisis continues to wage on this is such a necessary book. It truly brings to light a darkness in the world that isnt going away. There are countless untold stories of life, addiction and death just like Sarahs. We truly need more stories like this.
I recieved a digital copy of this book from the publisher via Netgalley in exchange for an honest review.
It is not often that I read something that splits my heart wide open but this memoir did exactly that. I was left emotionally wracked as I boucned between reading words soaked in pain, regret, anger and most of all love. Even at its hardest moments, Andersons love of Sarah seeps from the pages. To loose a loved one is painful but to question your own fault as well as if death came by the hand of another, is a pain that I cannot even begin to comprehend.
Rose Anderson's memoir of her sister's life is brutally honest, heart-wrenching, raw and yet beauitful. As the opioid crisis continues to wage on this is such a necessary book. It truly brings to light a darkness in the world that isnt going away. There are countless untold stories of life, addiction and death just like Sarahs. We truly need more stories like this.
I recieved a digital copy of this book from the publisher via Netgalley in exchange for an honest review.
July 16, 2022
We chose this book for our Sibling Grief Book Club. I found the story difficult to ready having lost both my sisters. Rose's bravery to share the depths of addiction, the pain, of her beloved sister Sarah (and her own) is raw, honest, and heart breaking. Thank you Rose for having the courage to write The Heart and Other Monsters.
March 17, 2022
Wowee wow wow. This. Was. Incredible. Like heart shattering, give me all the cries, make me stop and reread pages because they were so gut punching. Grief is a real bitch and sometimes you can’t find the right words for it and then a book like this comes along and it knows how you feel and it puts it all down on paper for you. Also I once read a memoir about a woman who survived the tsunami in Sri Lanka where she was on holiday but her whole family died and the damn book was so depressing and I assumed she was going to find the rainbows by the end but she didn’t and was still sad as fuck but I appreciated it because awful stuff doesn’t always go away with some herbal tea and gentle yoga and this book was kind of like that where spoiler alert she’s still heartbroken and maybe that’s why I liked it so much because I also like when everyone dies in horror movies which honestly they normally deserve because they keep running upstairs instead of getting out of the house. Take my bow and close curtain on that epic run on sentence.
January 2, 2020
Rose Andersen’s The Heart and Other Monsters will split your heart right open. It’s both a love letter to the sister she lost and an investigation into what caused her death. Heartbreaking, illuminating, and poetic, Andersen’s voice cuts through the gruesomeness of the facts she uncovers with the type of love that transcends death. More than a memoir, this book reassembles all the shapes that grief takes.
July 20, 2020
A dysfunctional family, parental abuse, the opioid crisis, the loss of a sister.....
Rose Andersen hasn't had the easiest life. In her memoir, The Heart and Other Monsters she is very candid about her past. Her sister Sarah died of a drug overdose at 24. After years of substance abuse it was not unexpected but the circumstances were strange. This book is the untangling of that mystery. A memoir with some true crime tied in.
A love letter to a lost sister, an expression of grief and a personal exploration of the opiod crisis. Beautiful, heartbreaking, and poignant.
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Thank You to the publisher for sending me this arc opinions are my own.
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For more of my book content check out instagram.com/bookalong
Rose Andersen hasn't had the easiest life. In her memoir, The Heart and Other Monsters she is very candid about her past. Her sister Sarah died of a drug overdose at 24. After years of substance abuse it was not unexpected but the circumstances were strange. This book is the untangling of that mystery. A memoir with some true crime tied in.
A love letter to a lost sister, an expression of grief and a personal exploration of the opiod crisis. Beautiful, heartbreaking, and poignant.
•
Thank You to the publisher for sending me this arc opinions are my own.
•
For more of my book content check out instagram.com/bookalong
March 21, 2022
I was entirely gripped by this book from start to finish. It is a very powerful memoir and such a captivating story that I couldn’t put the book down. I highly recommend it.
February 24, 2021
My response to this book is far more likely based on compassion fatigue than any failings by the author. I followed one book immediately by another on a very similar subject. Having experienced the sudden violent death of a loved one, I read it, thinking, “yeah, I know that feeling.”
Many (most?) people who have lost a loved one violently, have built a narrative in their minds around how it happened, and that narrative is highly subjective. This is how the book read to me. Magical realism scenarios and lots of mentions of splashing bile and nightmares. Very speculative. At one point she consults with a psychic who gives her the lead that her sister was deliberately overdosed with a hotshot because she may have been able to tie some killers to a gun she sold them that was used in a grisly murder. The front of the book contains a disclaimer that she has no actual evidence that her sister was murdered.
I would have liked to have seen more diary entries written by her deceased sister that might have shed more nuance into the reality of her struggles, but I have a feeling the brief passages she quoted may have been the only coherent thoughts the young woman had.
Death has a way of causing us to canonize people and I did wonder, (cynically, of course) if Sarah had survived, if the sisters would even have a relationship? She’s presuming Sarah would have gotten sober. Perhaps not, and Rose’s glowing wedding fantasy wouldn’t have occurred, since all Sarah did was lie and steal from her family. Again, been there, done that. I hope writing this book allows her some closure and a chance to move on.
Many (most?) people who have lost a loved one violently, have built a narrative in their minds around how it happened, and that narrative is highly subjective. This is how the book read to me. Magical realism scenarios and lots of mentions of splashing bile and nightmares. Very speculative. At one point she consults with a psychic who gives her the lead that her sister was deliberately overdosed with a hotshot because she may have been able to tie some killers to a gun she sold them that was used in a grisly murder. The front of the book contains a disclaimer that she has no actual evidence that her sister was murdered.
I would have liked to have seen more diary entries written by her deceased sister that might have shed more nuance into the reality of her struggles, but I have a feeling the brief passages she quoted may have been the only coherent thoughts the young woman had.
Death has a way of causing us to canonize people and I did wonder, (cynically, of course) if Sarah had survived, if the sisters would even have a relationship? She’s presuming Sarah would have gotten sober. Perhaps not, and Rose’s glowing wedding fantasy wouldn’t have occurred, since all Sarah did was lie and steal from her family. Again, been there, done that. I hope writing this book allows her some closure and a chance to move on.
August 8, 2022
this is the kind of thing that's compelling memoir content, but it still needs to be written in a way that connects you to it. it almost felt like she thought the content would stand on its own without emotionally connecting the reader. the writing was very factual, often disjointed, and emotionless for such an emotional topic. i've lost someone to a heroin overdose and even the slightest mention of addiction can often make me cry, yet it didn't happen once during this so, do what you will with that.
this was also written really strangely for a memoir. it starts out with her sister's overdose in detail that only her sister could know, including her last thoughts, how it feels, etc, and at one point halfway through the book it's from a dog's point of view? and then it switches at one point into the viewpoint of the person who may have killed her sister. how is that part of a memoir? i was super confused with that, stylistically, and it made it hard to stay in the memoir for me.
this was also written really strangely for a memoir. it starts out with her sister's overdose in detail that only her sister could know, including her last thoughts, how it feels, etc, and at one point halfway through the book it's from a dog's point of view? and then it switches at one point into the viewpoint of the person who may have killed her sister. how is that part of a memoir? i was super confused with that, stylistically, and it made it hard to stay in the memoir for me.
March 25, 2020
Dark and Stormy Memoir; Beautifully Breathtaking.
I don't normally read memoirs, but after reading the description for this title I knew I had to request it! I tend to gravitate toward stories where there is hardship or adversity. In this particular novel, addiction is what is discussed. Addiction has destroyed so many families, yet isn't discussed in candor. This book gives a voice to a community that is so often overlooked and cast away as being less than. While stigmas are being shattered everyday, there is still much work to be done.
I really enjoyed how much honesty was in this book. Rose Anderson shares a horrifying story of how her younger sister Sarah died of an overdose. With the opioid epidemic growing ever more fierce in this country, we need more stories like this. Real, true, powerful voices that bring this dark subject to life.
Five stars. Bravo.
I don't normally read memoirs, but after reading the description for this title I knew I had to request it! I tend to gravitate toward stories where there is hardship or adversity. In this particular novel, addiction is what is discussed. Addiction has destroyed so many families, yet isn't discussed in candor. This book gives a voice to a community that is so often overlooked and cast away as being less than. While stigmas are being shattered everyday, there is still much work to be done.
I really enjoyed how much honesty was in this book. Rose Anderson shares a horrifying story of how her younger sister Sarah died of an overdose. With the opioid epidemic growing ever more fierce in this country, we need more stories like this. Real, true, powerful voices that bring this dark subject to life.
Five stars. Bravo.
February 27, 2021
This is a page-turner and an important book. Rose Andersen's sister died tragically of a drug overdose at 24 years of age in November 2013. As Rose discovers following her sister's death everything isn't exactly as it appeared. Anderson writes a beautiful memoir, bringing the childhood traumas she and her sister faced to light & showing us why people seek comfort in drugs.
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I read memoirs to learn about the lives & perspectives of people who have lived different experiences to me, but I always find a common universality in the best memoirs. We all want to belong, to be seen & loved & to discover our path in life. Brilliant memoirs like this one show us how alike we all are, they show us the hearts of the characters & allow us to see why everyone deserves a chance at life.
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I read memoirs to learn about the lives & perspectives of people who have lived different experiences to me, but I always find a common universality in the best memoirs. We all want to belong, to be seen & loved & to discover our path in life. Brilliant memoirs like this one show us how alike we all are, they show us the hearts of the characters & allow us to see why everyone deserves a chance at life.
February 13, 2023
Solid four stars
Writing is a little immature but I think that’s what I love about it, very honest, basic, to the point with hints of poetic verse and parts that literally made my stomach twist/turn sour
Writing is a little immature but I think that’s what I love about it, very honest, basic, to the point with hints of poetic verse and parts that literally made my stomach twist/turn sour
July 2, 2020
Rose Andersen’s The Heart and Other Monsters is heart wrenching memoir about the author’s experience losing her sister, Sarah, to a drug overdose. The book was a combination of part memoir about the Andersen sisters’ lives together and true crime story about the seeming drug overdose that wasn’t. At many turns, the book conveys Andersen’s grief for her sister who even in their disagreements were bound together.
Where the book succeeds is in conveying Andersen’s life fully, though at times we don’t fully understand Sarah’s upbringing singularly. The Andersen home was a combination of supportive maternal figures (their mom and stepmom, Sharon) and toxic father figures (their dad and a tough, unflexible disciplinarian stepfather). Their stepfather was also a closeted alcoholic while their own father abused the girls emotionally after the departure of his wife and his second wife, Sharon. It seems that the toxic treatment of these male figures translates to insecurity and a constant search for male approval in Sarah, who is nearly six years Rose’s junior. Meanwhile, Rose loses herself in her books and her studies, thus perhaps staying somewhat insulated from the familial chaos. Nevertheless, Rose also develops addictions to alcohol and cocaine, but is able to recover in her twenties and finish her degree several years later.
Integrating a variety of sources from her own memories to Sarah’s journals, we are provided insight into the magnitude of Sarah’s self-loathing. Sadly, she is unable to stay sober barring one year from the age of 15 to her death at age 24. Andersen is fairly successful at conveying the depth of emotion following her sister’s death, as the “monsters” are the drug demons and perhaps the “heart” is Sarah’s competing self, the positive self-worth infrequently on display. The author, however, is less successful at integrating the true crime portion of the story as there is some uncertainty about whether Sarah’s death was an overdose or purposefully inflicted in a “hot shot,” which in drug parlance is an intentional drug overdose. The author pores through the criminal record and coroner’s report in retelling the true crime aspects of this unsolved crime but these areas seem labored and disjointed. The book may have been more effective if it remained in memoir form or it more fully integrated the true crime aspects. Still, it is a heartfelt memoir of life snatched away far too prematurely
Where the book succeeds is in conveying Andersen’s life fully, though at times we don’t fully understand Sarah’s upbringing singularly. The Andersen home was a combination of supportive maternal figures (their mom and stepmom, Sharon) and toxic father figures (their dad and a tough, unflexible disciplinarian stepfather). Their stepfather was also a closeted alcoholic while their own father abused the girls emotionally after the departure of his wife and his second wife, Sharon. It seems that the toxic treatment of these male figures translates to insecurity and a constant search for male approval in Sarah, who is nearly six years Rose’s junior. Meanwhile, Rose loses herself in her books and her studies, thus perhaps staying somewhat insulated from the familial chaos. Nevertheless, Rose also develops addictions to alcohol and cocaine, but is able to recover in her twenties and finish her degree several years later.
Integrating a variety of sources from her own memories to Sarah’s journals, we are provided insight into the magnitude of Sarah’s self-loathing. Sadly, she is unable to stay sober barring one year from the age of 15 to her death at age 24. Andersen is fairly successful at conveying the depth of emotion following her sister’s death, as the “monsters” are the drug demons and perhaps the “heart” is Sarah’s competing self, the positive self-worth infrequently on display. The author, however, is less successful at integrating the true crime portion of the story as there is some uncertainty about whether Sarah’s death was an overdose or purposefully inflicted in a “hot shot,” which in drug parlance is an intentional drug overdose. The author pores through the criminal record and coroner’s report in retelling the true crime aspects of this unsolved crime but these areas seem labored and disjointed. The book may have been more effective if it remained in memoir form or it more fully integrated the true crime aspects. Still, it is a heartfelt memoir of life snatched away far too prematurely
April 5, 2020
Five out of Five Stars!!
I knew going into this one it may trigger some feelings in my usually neutral-reading soul. Little did I know.....
This memoir wrecked me in a way that no other memoir to date ever has. I could feel Rose's anger, pain, regret, guilt, and, above all, the love for her sister coming through on every page. It's one thing to lose a beloved sister to an overdose, but to a potential murder? I can't even imagine.
Rose Andersen's writing is powerful and cohesive without trying to be flowery. There is no sugar-coating, no excuses. She takes the reader into her past, with the abusive, alcoholic stepfather and the mostly absent father. She shares the story of her own descent into addiction and her hard-won sobriety. I have a feeling this memoir was more of a cathartic and healing experience for her as well as the need to share the story of her sister. And it's something that I commend her for finding the strength to do.
I read this memoir in an afternoon, yet it's taken me a few days to mentally process it. It dredged up a lot of feelings for me, including my own pain over the loss of some close friends to drugs and alcohol and my own substance abuse problems. But at the end of the day, this story of Rose and her sister Sarah is a powerful testament to family bonds and coping with the unexpected. Be sure to check this book out when it is released July 2020.
Thank you to Netgalley and Bloomsbury Publishing for sending me this early e-copy for review.
I knew going into this one it may trigger some feelings in my usually neutral-reading soul. Little did I know.....
This memoir wrecked me in a way that no other memoir to date ever has. I could feel Rose's anger, pain, regret, guilt, and, above all, the love for her sister coming through on every page. It's one thing to lose a beloved sister to an overdose, but to a potential murder? I can't even imagine.
Rose Andersen's writing is powerful and cohesive without trying to be flowery. There is no sugar-coating, no excuses. She takes the reader into her past, with the abusive, alcoholic stepfather and the mostly absent father. She shares the story of her own descent into addiction and her hard-won sobriety. I have a feeling this memoir was more of a cathartic and healing experience for her as well as the need to share the story of her sister. And it's something that I commend her for finding the strength to do.
I read this memoir in an afternoon, yet it's taken me a few days to mentally process it. It dredged up a lot of feelings for me, including my own pain over the loss of some close friends to drugs and alcohol and my own substance abuse problems. But at the end of the day, this story of Rose and her sister Sarah is a powerful testament to family bonds and coping with the unexpected. Be sure to check this book out when it is released July 2020.
Thank you to Netgalley and Bloomsbury Publishing for sending me this early e-copy for review.
April 5, 2020
I knew going into this one it may trigger some feelings in my usually neutral-reading soul. Little did I know.....
This memoir wrecked me in a way that no other memoir to date ever has. I could feel Rose's anger, pain, regret, guilt, and, above all, the love for her sister coming through on every page. It's one thing to lose a beloved sister to an overdose, but to a potential murder? I can't even imagine.
Rose Andersen's writing is powerful and cohesive without trying to be flowery. There is no sugar-coating, no excuses. She takes the reader into her past, with the abusive, alcoholic stepfather and the mostly absent father. She shares the story of her own descent into addiction and her hard-won sobriety. I have a feeling this memoir was more of a cathartic and healing experience for her as well as the need to share the story of her sister. And it's something that I commend her for finding the strength to do.
I read this memoir in an afternoon, yet it's taken me a few days to mentally process it. It dredged up a lot of feelings for me, including my own pain over the loss of some close friends to drugs and alcohol and my own substance abuse problems. But at the end of the day, this story of Rose and her sister Sarah is a powerful testament to family bonds and coping with the unexpected. Be sure to check this book out when it is released July 2020.
Thank you to Netgalley and Bloomsbury Publishing for sending me this early e-copy for review.
This memoir wrecked me in a way that no other memoir to date ever has. I could feel Rose's anger, pain, regret, guilt, and, above all, the love for her sister coming through on every page. It's one thing to lose a beloved sister to an overdose, but to a potential murder? I can't even imagine.
Rose Andersen's writing is powerful and cohesive without trying to be flowery. There is no sugar-coating, no excuses. She takes the reader into her past, with the abusive, alcoholic stepfather and the mostly absent father. She shares the story of her own descent into addiction and her hard-won sobriety. I have a feeling this memoir was more of a cathartic and healing experience for her as well as the need to share the story of her sister. And it's something that I commend her for finding the strength to do.
I read this memoir in an afternoon, yet it's taken me a few days to mentally process it. It dredged up a lot of feelings for me, including my own pain over the loss of some close friends to drugs and alcohol and my own substance abuse problems. But at the end of the day, this story of Rose and her sister Sarah is a powerful testament to family bonds and coping with the unexpected. Be sure to check this book out when it is released July 2020.
Thank you to Netgalley and Bloomsbury Publishing for sending me this early e-copy for review.
November 7, 2020
The Heart and Other Monsters by Rose Andersen
reviewed by: mrsboone4
Green Forest, Arkansas, USA
I was interested in reading about how the opioid crisis has affected one family. It is a raw, emotional book, covering the addictions of the author's entire family. The author was able to overcome her addiction, her sister was not.
There is an additional element of true crime that surrounds the death of Ms. Andersen's sister Sarah. The possibility that her death could have in truth, been a murder sounds plausible. Unfortunately, when you are around deep, dark criminal elements, life rarely works out in a positive light.
One thing I noticed throughout the book, there was no mention of God in anyone's lives. That coupled with a high abortion rate, the quantity and quality of hard drugs available on the street, there is no doubt that the USA has some terrible problems that are not going to get any better, they way they are headed.
Sarah had family and friends who loved her and cared about her, but in the end, that didn't matter. A tragedy, all the way around. I feel badly, for this family who lost a family member, a daughter, a sister, a child.
I received a complimentary copy from Bloomsbury Publishing and was under no obligation to post a review.
reviewed by: mrsboone4
Green Forest, Arkansas, USA
I was interested in reading about how the opioid crisis has affected one family. It is a raw, emotional book, covering the addictions of the author's entire family. The author was able to overcome her addiction, her sister was not.
There is an additional element of true crime that surrounds the death of Ms. Andersen's sister Sarah. The possibility that her death could have in truth, been a murder sounds plausible. Unfortunately, when you are around deep, dark criminal elements, life rarely works out in a positive light.
One thing I noticed throughout the book, there was no mention of God in anyone's lives. That coupled with a high abortion rate, the quantity and quality of hard drugs available on the street, there is no doubt that the USA has some terrible problems that are not going to get any better, they way they are headed.
Sarah had family and friends who loved her and cared about her, but in the end, that didn't matter. A tragedy, all the way around. I feel badly, for this family who lost a family member, a daughter, a sister, a child.
I received a complimentary copy from Bloomsbury Publishing and was under no obligation to post a review.
July 18, 2020
Rose Andersen’s debut memoir is immersive and spellbinding. It reminded me of two of my all-time favorite memoirs: The Fact of a Body by Alex Marzano-Lesnevich and The Other Side by Lacy M. Johnson. I am not a fast reader. But The Heart and Other Monsters is one of those rare books I gulped down as if my life depended on it. The writing is spare, searing, without a wasted word, the style perfectly matching the subject. Andersen has processed the story of her sister who died of a drug overdose—or was it murder?—and the result is a lean and lyrical retelling of only the essentials. Not just the essentials of the story, but the essentials of what it means to love someone and lose her, to access rage and regret and everything in between. The structure of short, potent chapters is brilliant. A more traditional, chronological approach would have made the material overwhelming, but the white space allows the emotions to resonate and seep into our skin. Full of compassion and honesty, hypnotic and propulsive, this book inhabited me, and I felt possessed by it. I’m sure it will haunt me for a long time to come.
May 14, 2025
There's quite a bit of speculation of Andersen's sister's state of mind throughout her life and her fall into drug addiction-- though I recognize there were journals that help form this. And obviously Rose and Sarah experienced a lot of the same things growing up in the same dysfunctional household.
What I think I liked most is Andersen's approach to sharing the story in a cryptic yet empathetic, in-your-face but also try to understand way. The opioid crisis is real. It was risky behavior before that and it just kept leveling up.
What I wanted was better framing of the many family photos placed within the book-- there weren't descriptions for them to help understand why they were there and what Andersen wanted out of sharing them at those points in the story.
It's stark and dark but short and super accessible as a book to share with teens that detail a life cut short and how painful it is to die alone on a bathroom floor without having your body discovered for several days.
What I think I liked most is Andersen's approach to sharing the story in a cryptic yet empathetic, in-your-face but also try to understand way. The opioid crisis is real. It was risky behavior before that and it just kept leveling up.
What I wanted was better framing of the many family photos placed within the book-- there weren't descriptions for them to help understand why they were there and what Andersen wanted out of sharing them at those points in the story.
It's stark and dark but short and super accessible as a book to share with teens that detail a life cut short and how painful it is to die alone on a bathroom floor without having your body discovered for several days.
October 19, 2024
The raw emotion, the description of grief, the behind the scenes look at a very troubled life (or a few)- this will probably stick with me a long time. The grappling with the truth, which in this case is unfortunately unknowable, is painful to witness- part of me wanted to tell the author to just please stop picking at the scab, let it heal- or at least stop making it bleed! But that’s what this book seems to be, making herself bleed in order to understand (repent for?) Sarah’s death.
I can understand the desire and probably drive to not let the murder aspect go, as a reader it feels almost too personal to witness Rose continue to be stuck in a loop around this. Although if there was really a murder, of course she’s in a loop? I don’t judge her, there but for the grace of God go I and all that, but watching her replay the death seemingly to torture herself, but ostensibly to process, is hard to witness.
I can understand the desire and probably drive to not let the murder aspect go, as a reader it feels almost too personal to witness Rose continue to be stuck in a loop around this. Although if there was really a murder, of course she’s in a loop? I don’t judge her, there but for the grace of God go I and all that, but watching her replay the death seemingly to torture herself, but ostensibly to process, is hard to witness.
August 26, 2020
The reality of loss -- the raw jagged pain of it, the hollow raging emptiness of it, the suffocatingly surreal wrongness of it -- is on full display in these pages. And as author Rose relives and retells her sister Sarah's death, the endless choices and coincidences that brought them there and the years of questions and searching that followed, worrying her wounds because the pain is the only reminder she has left, it's clear how much we are misled about the stages of grief. There is not a straight line from one to the next but a tangle over overlapping knots caught in a tide that ebbs and flows, sometimes loosening strands, sometimes binding them ever tighter. They accepted Sarah's inevitable death before it happened; they bargain every day to have her back; they have been angry with everyone and no one. Nothing changes. Sarah is still gone.
January 18, 2021
The writing in this memoir is brilliant and the structure is a thing of beauty. The story is painful, searing, brutal. Addiction is a main character, though never addressed so unsubtly as that.
Honestly, the writer describes a childhood so chaotic that I couldn't relate to it very well (having been raised in a stable, loving home), and it's a far reach for me to relate well to the narrator herself. But her writing about grief and death really overcome these (for me) drawbacks. I read it FAST because it is easy to read and suspenseful.
Sadly, I kept wondering why everybody loved the dead sister so much, since her addiction made her a chronic thief and liar....then I remembered all the dead addicts I've loved, and I said "oh, yeah."
Honestly, the writer describes a childhood so chaotic that I couldn't relate to it very well (having been raised in a stable, loving home), and it's a far reach for me to relate well to the narrator herself. But her writing about grief and death really overcome these (for me) drawbacks. I read it FAST because it is easy to read and suspenseful.
Sadly, I kept wondering why everybody loved the dead sister so much, since her addiction made her a chronic thief and liar....then I remembered all the dead addicts I've loved, and I said "oh, yeah."
April 16, 2023
For me this heart wrenching recounting of a young woman losing her young sister to addiction, quite possibly by intentional overdose. For my lens, perspective always felt either too close or too far, from the sister/victim, from the self/reluctant survivor. I wish she'd relied less on how she imagined it happening and taken me deeper into the emotional abyss of a woman grieving, and also obsessively researching, trying to understand, and maybe solve a murder, this was touched on, but I don't think the book was long enough to truly explore more surrounding grief and navigating the unknown and unanswered. There were many poignant moments and well written phrases, but overall it just didn't work as well for me as it did for others.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
June 9, 2023
“I could show you my wings, but if I do, I will die.” This from the mouth of a girl who once believed in fairies. As a child, Sarah asks her best friend to show some faith in her magical powers, testifying that she would sacrifice herself if only her friend would believe. This memoir I just read in a heartbeat, written by Sarah’s older sister, Rose Andersen, is the ultimate act of poetic witness to the otherworldly flight that her sister would go on to take in her twenty-fourth year in the form of a lethal overdose. Published in 2020, “The Heart and Other Monsters” dreams up many access points to the scene of Sarah’s untimely death— the perspectives of Sarah herself, Sarah’s dog, Sarah’s mail carrier, the man who may have killed Sarah, and one unforgettable spell of literature that transcends the narrator’s otherwise impossible presence at Sarah’s dying side— offering a prismatic portrait of sisterly love, grief, and devotion to a higher truth such as miracles. In the end, I can’t stop thinking about the vital role that imagination plays in the aftermath of unthinkable loss and devastation, and the crisis of addiction that plagues countless beloved people and their communities. What can be done to protect their sacred lives? What altars can we build? Highly recommend you experience this awe-inspiring story for yourself. Order a copy from Bloomsbury Publishing today if you believe in magic.
July 15, 2020
There's lots to admire here. I see the influence of Didion ("this is what I know") and Carr (journalism & inclusion of family photos). The chapters with an omniscient narrator were the strongest (The Girl, A Fable, The Dog, The Man). The chapter Portrait has a great section about how grief affects memory: "I can no longer think about this moment without thinking about the moment she died. This is what death has done. It has taken my best moments and paired them with my worst thoughts. It changes the way I remember." The last third of the book is remarkable and outshines the beginning, which makes for a bit of an uneven read.
April 7, 2021
I learned of this memoir because I knew the author’s stepfather somewhat when she was a child. What I learned about that man and their relationship saddened me greatly. However that’s just one small part of Rose’s beautiful, heart-wrenching book; it’s mostly about her years-long search for understanding of and meaning in the circumstances of her sister’s untimely death by drug overdose. The journey is full of highs and lows and drenched in Rose’s love for her sister and sorrow in her loss. It’s wonderfully written despite the deeply difficult reading. I applaud the author for both her writing virtuosity and her ability to throw open the doors to her life and let the world look in.
July 7, 2020
This book cuts to the deepest part of what it is to be human. It uncomfortably explores how easily life can slip through the cracks- how vulnerable we all are...and yet also how there can be redemption through love.
The book is at its core one of the most honest portrayals of loss and the way that loss winds its way into the cracks of the future- the very foundation of everything else that we build our life to be.
It left me feeling reminded of how lucky we all are even to experience pain- how loss and pain are the same side of the coin that is love and hope and connection.
I loved it.
The book is at its core one of the most honest portrayals of loss and the way that loss winds its way into the cracks of the future- the very foundation of everything else that we build our life to be.
It left me feeling reminded of how lucky we all are even to experience pain- how loss and pain are the same side of the coin that is love and hope and connection.
I loved it.
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