Publish Date |
January 28, 2020 |
Category |
Family & Relationships / Death, Grief, Bereavement Biography & Autobiography / Personal Memoirs |
Price |
$22.99 |
ISBN: 9781982109332
Format: Paperback
Pages: 304
Publisher: Simon & Schuster
Published: January 28, 2020
“Haunting and filled with dark humour, this is an honest and calm look at the chaos of life.”
— Globe and Mail“Liz has spent years working with writers when she should have been the writer all along. What a surprising and fascinating leap right out of the gate.”
— DOUGLAS COUPLAND, bestselling author“The death of loved ones can leave us with an unbearable sense of doom—enough to make us avert our gaze. But Liz Levine has certainly not. Her crystalline honesty towards the abject loss of loved ones is both devastating and hilarious. Her stories are absolutely unforgettable.”
— ALEXANDRE TRUDEAU“This haunting memoir is like hitchhiking at night through the bleak tundra of death and loss we all know at one time or another; the jagged memories of insanity, love, and vanished innocence we all carry, that our families all have. Levine writes with such simple, yet sophisticated clarity that I lived every raw emotion, and was enveloped with every joy. This is writing at its best.”
— JESSE THISTLE, #1 bestselling author of From the Ashes“This brought home to me the incalculable pain of mental illness as well, and as poignantly, as any book could.”
— ADAM GOPNIK, bestselling author“Will ring devastatingly true to anyone who has ever experienced loss, anyone who has never been able to put into words the complexities and contradictions of their feelings. . . . a balm, a palliative for the darkest times of life.”
— Toronto Star“In her haunting memoir, Levine marches us through the story of her best friend’s death to cancer and her sister’s to suicide. She spells out the chaos and the questions that inevitably arose, while alphabetizing the meaning and the meaninglessness of both tragedies along the way. And in this beautiful, dark-humoured dictionary, Levine doesn’t merely reveal her own journey, she also manages to uncover a path we can follow in our own lives.”
— TEGAN QUIN of Tegan and Sara“This hauntingly honest account of grief and mourning finds humour, light and celebration in the midst of death.”
— The Kit“I was blown away by this book. We are prepared for life—death not so much. Liz accomplishes the impossible task of walking us through the incredible complexities of grief and loss—and somehow manages to make us laugh through our tears. Every image is perfectly placed, every word impeccably chosen. After reading this, I felt less alone and more understood. She changed the way I look at my grief. I needed this, in a way I could not possibly have known.”
— KYRA SEDGWICK“Liz’s writing goes straight to the heart of what twists us up in our search for meaning—and thirst-quenching blame—during times of grief and loss. She will remind you of your best friend, your most delicious crutch, and your longest family holiday. This is a savvy, unflinching, darkly comic story of love and remembrance.”
— PAMELA RIBON, co-screenwriter, Moana, bestselling author, My Boyfriend Is a Bear“With a fragmented structure and chronology, not unlike memories of loved ones lost, the book explores Levine’s relationships . . . her internal conflict propels the narrative and, ultimately, a personal transformation.”
— Literary Review of Canada“A moving meditation on loss. . . . Sensitive testimony to the arduous process of mourning.”
— Kirkus