It was a touching idea to want to write a book about understanding the suicide of one's sister, however there just wasn't enough information to fill a book. Because of that I often found the author repeating things over and over. And the fact that the author had to speculate about parts of her sister's life (i.e. "I imagine she went to the bar...", etc.) showed even more lack of information. I was hoping for a deeper delve into the sister's life on the days and months before the tragedy occurred, but it was mostly just speculation and poems she wrote as a little kid. I'll take a cue from another reviewer who said, "I'm glad the author wrote this book for herself." The story of losing her own babies is heart-breaking and it seems nearly impossible for a human to come back from the trifecta of trauma that the author experienced. But with this book the reader is bystander. There is a lot of repetition. So much is summarized instead of embodied. It felt like there was so much energy spent absolving guilt that there was no energy left over for artistry or metaphor. I did appreciate the flow of information--that the author saved some details until the end (such as, did the father come to the funeral).
Haunting book of one woman's attempt to come to terms with the suicide of her younger adult sister.
—Marina
Not as great as the title made it sound. Lots of poetry which is distracting to me.
—kseniaKL
Beautifully written. The way she composes her prose makes it obvious she's a poet.
—aflorido705
Heart wrenching and disturbing....but an accurate observation of loss.
—manu
Well written, sad, but very interesting.
—Soma
