Grief Is for People: A Memoir

With sharp observations and bookish insight, Crosley (Cult Classic) elucidates her response to two traumatic events that happened in a short timeframe—a burglary and the death of her friend and former boss Russell by suicide. In what seems to be a targeted act of crime, someone breaks into Crosley’s New York City apartment and steals heirloom jewelry out of her Dutch spice cabinet, bought with Russell at a flea market. Not long after this unnerving event, she learns of Russell’s unexpected death, which sends her into the depths of grief. Her entertaining efforts to get her jewelry back intertwine with her longing to bring Russell back too. Crosley crisply narrates the memoir, which is divided into five sections, titled for the stages of grief, although the last is notably called “afterward” instead of “acceptance.” She perfectly delivers her thoughtful but often wry and humorous lines without her tone ever getting noticeably emotional, even as the story is often steeped in sadness, and her self-awareness and evenhanded depiction of Russell make the memoir all the more poignant.