Review of Living Forward After Loss

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Akanksha Singh 9
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Review of Living Forward After Loss

Post by Akanksha Singh 9 »

[Following is a volunteer review of "Living Forward After Loss" by Kathleen Ho.]
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3 out of 4 stars
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The most difficult time in someone's life is when a significant person to them departs from this world. No matter the person or the relationship, it hurts equally. It can lead to several mental health issues such as anxiety, depression, panic attacks, and social phoebe. Recovering from these traumas and mental health issues can be a real task for a person if required help isn't provided. Living Forward After Loss by Kathleen Ho is one such book. This book is written by a person who herself is a survivor of a similar loss. Kathleen Ho underwent these same traumas and mental health issues after losing her significant another half, her husband David. This book contains all the ways which she opted to recover from her abrasion and to keep moving on with her life.

The love Kathleen carries from her husband can be seen through her writing style. Throughout the book, she calls her husband 'my David', which was something that I adored. It felt so heartwarming and wholesome and almost felt like the purest form of love.

As I mentioned earlier, the author herself has been through the same phase of life after losing her husband. She can express her grief and trauma through her word while also giving ways to get out of that phase of life. She keeps on mentioning the fact that the ways which she provides are not clinical and are truly based on her experience. She moots that her ways might or might not work for every individual as everyone grieves differently. I respect and appreciate the author for accepting the fact that her ways are not universal and might now work for few individuals.

In the novel, Kathleen doesn't entertain any kind of blather and gets straight to the point, which might offend some people. She mentions the dos and don'ts that a person should do and say while consoling a grieving person. She also mentions that while grieving, the people around them also play a very important role. She mentions that her family, friends, and even neighbors supported her a lot while she was suffering from a tragic loss.

The author also adds a summary at the end of each chapter. The summary states all the important key points from the chapter. This is a really convincing point for people who are not much into reading as it provides a compact summary, saving people from the tedious job of reading the entire chapter.

I would rate this book 3 out of 4 stars as I couldn't find any negative points, except for the fact that this book is not professionally edited. I would only suggest this book to people who are at mental peace with their current situation as this book can be a little triggering as it talks about certain mental health issues, depression, and also suicidal thoughts.

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Living Forward After Loss
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