So Sorry for Your Loss: How I Learned To Live with Grief, and Other Grave Concerns

With its punny title and casserole cover, journalist Gachman’s book promises a wry take on death and grieving. It’s primarily a collection of autobiographical essays rather than self-help (Gachman admits that she doesn’t have a plan for getting over grief), but the author nevertheless sprinkles in helpful hints (express honest sympathy, not platitudes) along with statistics; historic anecdotes (court members of both Queens Elizabeth I and II are mentioned); formal studies (a 2017 Kaiser Family hospice care opinion poll; a Census Bureau community survey); journal citations; quotes from experts; songwriters and lyrics; pop culture references; and even comforting recipes. The result is poignantly honest and often morbidly amusing but overall a peripatetic mishmash. Perhaps the hodgepodge is the point: grieving is, after all, nonlinear, enigmatic, and individualized.