Grief: A Mama’s Unwanted Journey by Shelley Ramsey

This is a difficult book to read and I am sure a difficult book to write.  This is also a difficult review to write. 

If you want to know what the experience is “like” when you lose a child, the author explains it well. I could identify with all of the emotions, shock, and reactions from other people. I could especially relate to the example of the friend that spotted her in a store and immediately turned her back and walked away. It would have been much more helpful, however, to explain more about how deeply these reactions hurt. 

Unfortunately, if you are going through this experience, and you are looking for guidance or comfort, there is not much here.  Her story is all about her and her son and there is very little reaching out to try to understand the grief of others.  This is evident in her repeating over and over that her son did nothing wrong and made no mistakes even though he died in a single-car accident.  She explains in detail how God provided for the pastor of her church to be with her husband when he was informed of the death. How perfectly her church guided them through the experience. I saw no effort to see through the eyes of someone whose experience was different, and the attitude was as if God gave her family preferential treatment. Did you have more faith than I? No, I don't think so.

I'm sure that writing this book was helpful for the author, but I don't think she was at a stage in her grief at which she could look beyond self and reach out to others.