I'm grieving the unexpected death of a close friend and am enjoying reading books with grief as a main theme to help feel and understand my feelings. I've really enjoyed The Year of Magical Thinking by Joan Didion, Loved One by Aisha Muharrar and Heart the Lover by Lily King. Would love suggestions that are either fiction or memoirs- not looking for books that are like "this is how you deal with grief."
by Clean-Divide883
22 Comments
I am currently reading *A Road to Joy* by Alexandra Stacey. I learned of it from this sub. It is fiction but based on the author’s real-life grief experience.
[H Is for Hawk](https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/18803640-h-is-for-hawk) is good.
Promise me Sunshine by Cara Bastone would be perfect for this. The protagonist is dealing with the grief of her best friend’s death. I read it while dealing with the grief of losing my son and thought it was a beautiful representation of the complexities of your life going on after a tragic loss.
Hamnet
I really appreciated Shark Heart by Emily Habeck
Tuesdays with Morrie
Memoir, When Breath Becomes Air
The Last Letter
Never Let Me Go
The year of magical thinking
Intermezzo by Rooney
River is Waiting by Lamb
Apeirogon by McCann
I Shall Not Hate by Abuelaish
The Road to Tender Hearts is a fiction book with significant themes of grief. Content warning for some discussion of SV and abuse, but the book overall is quite funny and tender.
*Dog Years* by Mark Doty
*Wintering* by Katherine May
*Instead of a Letter* by Diana Athill, which is a memoir written by a woman who was undone by her fiance breaking off their engagement and she was basically in mourning for two decades afterwards. And then she got up off her butt and started living again. This is the first of her memoirs. She is an exceptional writer and a very interesting person.
Under the Whispering Door by TJ Klune
Crying in H Mart by Michelle Zauner
We All Want Impossible Things by Catherine Newman
It wouldn’t seem this way at first glance but grief is a big theme of The Locked Tomb series, most pronounced in the second book, Harrow the Ninth. It’s not one that would work out of order though, and there’s plenty of grief to go around in the other 2 currently released books as well.
A man called ove by Fredrick Backman
Edwidge Danticat’s The Art of Death. Incredible memoir with incredible writing.
To love and let go is a memoir I really really loved. She lost her best friend. It’s a beautiful book and despite the title it’s not some self help style book
The epic of Gilgamesh is one of the oldest (if not oldest?) texts and is an incredible story of grief, love, and friendship.
Sunrise on the Reaping
Lincoln in the Bardo is a stunner. Beautiful, beautiful writing
A Monster Calls by Patrick Ness is older MG/ younger YA and it’s devastating. Michael Rosen’s Sad Book is an incredible picture book about the death of his son.
Our wives under the sea
In Terry Pratchett’s novel *Nation*, both protagonists are dealing with grief in very different ways in very different circumstances.