The truth hurts. - Rated 
I am a professional therapist (ret) and I used this book many times with client's undergoing grief and loss.I found it one of the best as an overview of what a person may expect when grieving,and suggests practical behaviours to cope with loss.
Two months ago I gave it to my dog-groomer who had lost her mother,and she found it extremely helpful.
Last week a family member of mine died and today I re-read this book from cover to cover.It helped and comforted me and I recommend it to anyone who appreciates the author's personal journey,examples of grief, normal and pathological,explained in a caring empathetic way.
It remains my constant source of comfort and I find some new nuggets of wisdom each time I read it. I heartily recommend it to others.
Bereavement - a practical guide - Rated 
This excellent book was recommended to me by a priest with much experience of bereavement councelling.
It goes through the psychological aspects of grief, enabling the grieving person to understand the many feelings (often contradictory) that he or she feels in the "three stages of grief".
It explains why it is so important to grieve "properly", so that the process can be completed satisfactorily, enabling resolution to occur and a normal frame of mind to resume.
As someone who has recently suffered a bereavement myself, I found this book very helpfull.
The Courage for what ? - Rated 
I bought this book soon after the death of my 11 year old daughter. I found the approach very uncomfortable and it left me feeling as though i was failing because i was not following the prescribed way of grieving. The examples given in the book led me to belive that if i did not follow the advice of the author i would be doomed to a life of sadness and despair. The most damaging aspect of the text was the insistance in "letting go", and idea i still find very difficult to accept. The freightening examples of people who had become overly interseted in the cause of a loved one's death only to fall victim to the sane illness would have been better placed in horror fiction. Stear clear...
Not Recommended - Rated
I bought this book in the hope that it would make some sense of the often crazy confusing emotions myself and my family were experiencing after the death of my 11 year old daughter. It succeeded only in worsening my feelings of guilt that i was not somehow following a well researched and proven path through grief, and my failure to do so would leave me in torment for the rest of my life. The prospect of "letting go" and finalising my grief i found disturbing,along with the anecdotes of people who through there failure to follow the "normal grieving proccess have suffered the same illness that caused the death of the very person they grieve for.This book and the story it tells should remain where it belongs, with the athour.
An annoying book, too much preaching. - Rated 
I found this book to be an irritation more than a help. The author is too keen to tell us what we should be thinking, feeling and doing. After a bereavement few things make sense and this book made me feel that I wasn't toeing the line with my 'grieving process'. It was also full of advice about what to do when at the moment I can't 'do' much at all. Some of the advice talked about such rubbish as writing letters to the bereaved and undertaking creative journeys to face up to our own death. As a health professional I found this - " you'll be ok as long as you're brave' approach very dishonest and an exploration of feelings and responses to bereavement at a different level is needed.
| 
