The Grief of Others, Leah Hager Cohen
The Grief of Others, Leah Hager Cohen
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The Grief of Others

Author: Leah Hager Cohen

Narrator: Pam Ward

Unabridged: 11 hr 18 min

Format: Digital Audiobook Download

Publisher: Tantor Media

Published: 09/30/2011

Categories: Fiction, Women


Synopsis

Is keeping a secret from a spouse always an act of infidelity? And what cost does such a secret exact on a family?

The Ryries have suffered a loss: the death of a baby just fifty-seven hours after his birth. Without words to express their grief, the parents, John and Ricky, try to return to their previous lives. Struggling to regain a semblance of normalcy for themselves and for their two older children, they find themselves pretending not only that little has changed, but that their marriage, their family, have always been intact. Yet in the aftermath of the baby's death, long-suppressed uncertainties about their relationship come roiling to the surface. A dreadful secret emerges with reverberations that reach far into their past and threaten their future.

The couple's children, ten-year-old Biscuit and thirteen-year-old Paul, responding to the unnamed tensions around them, begin to act out in exquisitely—perhaps courageously—idiosyncratic ways. But as the four family members scatter into private, isolating grief, an unexpected visitor arrives, and they all find themselves growing more alert to the sadness and burdens of others—to the grief that is part of every human life but that also carries within it the power to draw us together.

Moving, psychologically acute, and gorgeously written, The Grief of Others asks how we balance personal autonomy with the intimacy of relationships, how we balance private decisions with the obligations of belonging to a family, and how we take measure of our own sorrows in a world rife with suffering. This novel shows how one family, by finally allowing itself to experience the shared quality of grief, is able to rekindle tenderness and hope.

About Leah Hager Cohen

Leah Hager Cohen is the author of several books, including Train Go Sorry, Glass, Paper, Beans, and House Lights. Among the honors her books have received are selection as a New York Times Notable Book (four times); inclusion in the American Library Association's Ten Best Books of the Year; and selection as a Book Sense 76 pick. She is a frequent contributor to the New York Times Book Review.


Reviews

Goodreads review by Jill on September 27, 2011

The Grief of Others reminds me of an elegant package, with layers and layers of exquisite paper. Yet when everything is opened, what remains is a mystery box, something that entices and at the same time, disappoints. The writing is, indeed, beautiful. The story opens with Ricky Ryrie in a hospital be......more

Goodreads review by Elaine Mullane on February 21, 2019

In a similar vein to the work of Celeste Ng, The Grief of Others is a perceptive and absorbing domestic drama and a subtle portrait of modern American family life and its complex bonds. Illuminating the humanity of expertly evoked characters, Leah Hager Cohen's novel is a beautiful magnification of......more

Goodreads review by Gayla on March 14, 2012

The problem with having a near-brilliant first five pages is that the rest of the book might not live up to it. The first five pages of this book are devastating--it really is the fastest a book has ever made me cry--and beautiful and real. But much of the rest of the book doesn't live up to it. I l......more

Goodreads review by switterbug (Betsey) on September 30, 2011

What is grief? It has no physical properties, but it fills a room, a life, many lives, and creates pain. It's bigger than a boulder, but is amorphous. You can't domesticate or quarantine grief, but it can isolate, alienate, afflict. The sun rises and sets, our shadows shorten and lengthen, but grief......more