A Manual for Heartache: How to Feel Better by Cathy Rentzenbrink

From Goodreads

The wise and inspiring new book from the bestselling author of The Last Act of Love.

When Cathy Rentzenbrink was still a teenager, her happy family was torn apart by an unthinkable tragedy. In A Manual for Heartache she describes how she learnt to live with grief and loss and find joy in the world again. She explores how to cope with life at its most difficult and overwhelming and how we can emerge from suffering forever changed, but filled with hope.

This is a moving, warm and uplifting book that offers solidarity and comfort to anyone going through a painful time, whatever it might be. It’s a book that will help to soothe an aching heart and assure its readers that they’re not alone.

My thoughts

At around 160 pages this is a short read that tells us of the feelings and how Cathy Rentzenbrink coped with a family tragedy as a teenager. 

This was a random choice of book that I reserved from my local Library. I am not sure how I came across it really.

This wasn't a reading group read, but I feel that it would make an interesting book to be read and to be discussed among others.

Excerpt 1 ~ When my grenade struck, the well-meaning grown ups around me peddled the line that time is a great healer. And so, I waited to feel better, for life to return to normal. It never did.

That resonates with me, time is a great healer, but as Cathy says life doesn't return to the normal that it was before events happen to make us feel that way. Life does however return to a new normal, where we have to come to terms with what has happened and learn to live in that new normal. This varies in each of us, as events have a different impact on each and everyone of us.  

Excerpt 2 ~ We know that the worst thing to say to a depressed person is that they should pull themselves together; the problem isn't that it's bad advice, it's that we don't know how o do it.

This little tidbit of advice was given to me, when suffering with delayed shock of my Dad passing away when he was 49 and post natal depression. I was 25 at the time when he passed away and 6 1/2  months pregnant. My daughter was born in the January, she had a rough time suffering with Bronchiolitis at 10 days old and nearly died. It wasn't an easy time at all for me. My MIL (Mother in Law) wasn't the most sympathetic or empathetic person in the world, she would do anything for you, but lacked emotion really. It was her that gave me that little gem of advice.  Needless to say it went down like a lead balloon with me.

This was a thought provoking read and I am glad that I read it. Learning how others have been through the death of a loved one and how they coped with the emotions and feelings that were evoked due to it. How they learn to carry on with the new normal and that life can be enjoyed again without the person that you cared for, the memory of them never leaves you though.

I am glad that I read this book and gave it a 4 stars or 8/10. This is an ideal book to share with someone who is struggling coming to terms with the grieving period.