Good Grief: Life in a Tiny Vermont Village [Hardcover]

One vacation changed everything.Stimson makes great, entertaining reading out of kids unusual dating selections, shark attacks, sudden illness, and even an untimely death. Entertaining? Yes. She has that articular way with words and storytelling that makes the most out of learning to deal with grief.This is my favorite kind of booka messy, loving, bubbling over at the edges family, replete with exes, dogs, culinary disasters, and the tender heart of love and loss. A must-read,never-forget story.Maybe the author's clan doesn't have more mishaps and amusing anecdotes than the average family, and it's simply her engaging writing style that shapes their experiences into these well-balanced stories. Either way, it's an enjoyable journey for readers.I laughed and cried the whole way through this marvelous, moving, and, above all, joyful book. A chronicle of the further adventures of Ellen Stimsons eminently lovable family, Good Grief is a lesson in love and loss, as well as a reminder that life keeps happening, rituals matter, and dogs really are mans best friend. Ellen Stimsons voice is humane, human, and hilariousbut always wise. And her family is the one you want to borrow. Its impossible not to cheer this gang on.Imagine Jerry Seinfeld and Annie Dillard on the dance floor, gliding gracefully from keenly observed humor to contemplative insight. As they glide by, you join them in a few pirouettes, and the challenges of your own life transform: you laugh at them; you understand them better. When the music ends, you feel grateful, lighter, and more compassionate. That dance is Ellen Stimsons Good Grief. In the midst of the ups and downs of daily life, Stimson and her nontraditional family choose to respond, as she says with love and humor. What shines through these pages is Stimsons deep and genuine gratitude for this whole messy thing we call Living. Good Grief taught me to laugh harder and love betterand to always, always choose compassion.Both hilC˜