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The author, a physician, writes not only professionally about grief but about his own grief relative to his son being murdered and his father dying soon after this. The book is divided into six chapters addressing various aspects of the topic, such as God and grief, helping yourself and others, special circumstances like the death of a child, grief relative to homicide, suicide, and substance abuse, and ways to hold onto faith. It explores what grief is, its stages, and the symptoms within each one while examining why the loss has happened and other existential questions. Taking steps to heal oneself, such as doing activities, being alone, taking care of physical health, attending support groups, and doing rituals, can help. The chapter on helping other grieving people also offers what to do and what not to do.
The author’s book is a good, basic look into grief and the process of grief. The advice on how to cope with one’s grief and help others to cope is one of the standouts of the book. By writing from his own experiences with the grief process, the author adds special insight into what it is like to go through such loss. He uses poetry and biblical quotes to add to the connection of healing, and there is much pertinent information on ways to cope and heal. The book is written from a Christian worldview, so it may prove especially valuable to Christian believers. Overall, it is a good read and may be helpful to many people.