Book Review: A Time to Grieve

BY: Susan Lakin, LISW-S

CATEGORY: Grief and Loss
PUBLICATION: About Grief

​A Time to Grieve
By Carol Staudacher

In A Time to Grieve, author and grief consultant Carol Staudacher offers a useful companion for the newly bereaved. Each page includes a well chosen quote and a short essay addressing a common grief experience. At the end of each essay is a meditation to help strengthen the reader's resolve to manage that issue in a positive way. The book is organized to identify the phases of grief: Retreating, Working Through, and Resolving.

 A Time to Grieve is not meant to be read all at once or in order; the reader can pick and choose the issues which speak to his own need. Examples of pages are "I miss the way she made me feel about myself " and "When I'm alone, I just keep reviewing the same things". The author also offers insight into issues not often found in grief books, such as "We didn't always get along" or "It's like the bad things never happened." Staudacher understands the complex layers of relationships that don't evaporate when grief lessens.

 The short quotes on each page—some ancient proverbs, some from famous people and a variety of other sources—are worth exploring to find one that captures the griever's mood that day. For example: "You don't heal from the loss of a loved one because time passes, you heal because of what you do with the time." The meditations are short and help reframe the struggles we all face in confronting a loss.

 This book is available in paperback and would be a good gift for someone newly coping with grief.