Review by redknitcapgirl -- The ultimate love
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redknitcapgirl
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- Latest Review: The ultimate love by Sherine Anniruth
Review by redknitcapgirl -- The ultimate love
[Following is a volunteer review of "The ultimate love" by Sherine Anniruth.]
“But grief is a tidal wave that sweeps you away. It smashes you with unimaginable energy, carries you into the night, drops you on hard surfaces to be tossed out into an unknown ocean, battered, reshaped.”
The ultimate love by Sherine Anniruth is a story about overcoming the loss of her first-born child. But how exactly do you get over losing a loved one? Will the hole they left in our hearts ever be repaired? Does anyone completely get over it? I don't think so. And the author doesn't think so as well. We just learn to live with their absence.
The emotion is raw on this one. From the very beginning you could feel the pain and suffering of the author. I believe losing one's child is terribly gutting for a parent, so for Ms. Anniruth to put hers into words such as the one I quoted above, is very brave and admirable.
Her description of grief is spot on, "grief is like 15,00 pieces of a puzzle scattered on the table, each piece unique to you in every way.". As someone who lost a beloved family member just recently, I found that description to be accurate for what I had felt at that time. I never quite put it into words and I never quite understood the feeling of waking up each day and remembering that she was gone. And every day since then felt uncomfortable and nothing quite filled that part of me that was missing.
My main takeaways from this book are:
1. If you think you have all the time in the world, you're wrong. Stop putting off plans and think there's always tomorrow or a next time. You never know what happens tomorrow. A lot can change in just a matter of seconds.
2. Regret is a black hole. Telling yourself you should have done things differently can't change what has already happened. There'll be no end to it.
3. We all grieve in our own way. And in that sense, and really the only person who can help us completely is ourselves since the feeling is unique to us. But that doesn't mean we shouldn't ask for help.
4. Seeking help from the right channels is crucial.
5. Honor them in any way that you can.
There are only two things that I disliked about the book. First, it gets very repetitive. The book revolves on two themes: grief and overcoming it. The author alternates from how she overcame the hurdles and circling back to grieving. Then again, grief knows no bounds. You can feel like you have escaped through the worst only to realize that you’ve circled right back to it.
Then there’s the book cover. I know we’re not supposed to judge a book by its cover but at first glance, you wouldn’t think that it’s about a grieving mother. But I’ll give all of those a pass since the book is well written and well edited. I’m still rating this 4 out of 4 because of all the emotion Ms. Anniruth made me feel. She put words into my grief and gave me comfort in knowing that I, too, will eventually overcome my grief and learn to live with that loss.
Although it's been mentioned that all experience is unique to us, I would still like to recommend this book to people who have been grieving their loved ones. Reading others experience in navigating such hardships give us inspiration so that we too can rise up from it. We don’t have to be alone in this and The ultimate love is certainly a great companion and a great help to us.
******
The ultimate love
View: on Bookshelves
“But grief is a tidal wave that sweeps you away. It smashes you with unimaginable energy, carries you into the night, drops you on hard surfaces to be tossed out into an unknown ocean, battered, reshaped.”
The ultimate love by Sherine Anniruth is a story about overcoming the loss of her first-born child. But how exactly do you get over losing a loved one? Will the hole they left in our hearts ever be repaired? Does anyone completely get over it? I don't think so. And the author doesn't think so as well. We just learn to live with their absence.
The emotion is raw on this one. From the very beginning you could feel the pain and suffering of the author. I believe losing one's child is terribly gutting for a parent, so for Ms. Anniruth to put hers into words such as the one I quoted above, is very brave and admirable.
Her description of grief is spot on, "grief is like 15,00 pieces of a puzzle scattered on the table, each piece unique to you in every way.". As someone who lost a beloved family member just recently, I found that description to be accurate for what I had felt at that time. I never quite put it into words and I never quite understood the feeling of waking up each day and remembering that she was gone. And every day since then felt uncomfortable and nothing quite filled that part of me that was missing.
My main takeaways from this book are:
1. If you think you have all the time in the world, you're wrong. Stop putting off plans and think there's always tomorrow or a next time. You never know what happens tomorrow. A lot can change in just a matter of seconds.
2. Regret is a black hole. Telling yourself you should have done things differently can't change what has already happened. There'll be no end to it.
3. We all grieve in our own way. And in that sense, and really the only person who can help us completely is ourselves since the feeling is unique to us. But that doesn't mean we shouldn't ask for help.
4. Seeking help from the right channels is crucial.
5. Honor them in any way that you can.
There are only two things that I disliked about the book. First, it gets very repetitive. The book revolves on two themes: grief and overcoming it. The author alternates from how she overcame the hurdles and circling back to grieving. Then again, grief knows no bounds. You can feel like you have escaped through the worst only to realize that you’ve circled right back to it.
Then there’s the book cover. I know we’re not supposed to judge a book by its cover but at first glance, you wouldn’t think that it’s about a grieving mother. But I’ll give all of those a pass since the book is well written and well edited. I’m still rating this 4 out of 4 because of all the emotion Ms. Anniruth made me feel. She put words into my grief and gave me comfort in knowing that I, too, will eventually overcome my grief and learn to live with that loss.
Although it's been mentioned that all experience is unique to us, I would still like to recommend this book to people who have been grieving their loved ones. Reading others experience in navigating such hardships give us inspiration so that we too can rise up from it. We don’t have to be alone in this and The ultimate love is certainly a great companion and a great help to us.
******
The ultimate love
View: on Bookshelves
Latest Review: The ultimate love by Sherine Anniruth
