So when I read a review of Epilogue: A Memoir by Anne Roiphe over on Joanna Goddard's blog, A Cup of Jo, I was intrigued to see how one woman coped with such a loss. Ms. Roiphe suddenly lost her husband of 39 years to a heart attack. Epilogue was one of her methods for coping with that loss – by writing about her daily life.
There are moments that are completely heart wrenching and others that bring a giggle or smile of understanding. Her memoir resulted in a true love story and how sometimes following such a magnificent loss the survivor simply tries to find a way to keep going on.
“I do not have my soul mate,” Ms. Roiphe realizes, “and most likely will never have another, but I will be fine…I will be sad often but not always."I would best describe the writing as a stream of consciousness, which did take me a bit of adjusting too. However, this made it a great book for commuting back and forth – I was able to easily put it down and pick it up after short periods of time reading. This book is definitely worth the read; just make sure you have a tissue or two within arm’s reach.
Do you worry about losing a spouse or loved one? Do you have suggestions for a book to add to my list?
