“Grief is a house where no one can protect you, where the younger sister will grow older than the older one. Where the doors no longer let you in or out”

I picked up this book when I was rummaging through a friends book collection, the title caught my eye and I had never heard of the author, I thought why not give it a try. The story follows Lennie, her gran and uncle Big who are drowning in grief caused by the sudden loss of Bailey, who died from arrhythmia, whilst on stage rehearsing from Romeo and Juliet. Grief is a universal pain and I find no matter how often you might be surrounded by it death never loses its shock value.

“When I am with him, there is someone with me, in my house of grief, someone who knows its architecture as I do, who can walk with me.”

The love triangle almost turned me off of the book but at the same time it also drew me in, in that the early stages of grief all forms of common sense jump out the window. This is exactly the case with Lennie and Toby (Baileys’ fiancé) who are drawn together by their loss and as a result start hooking up but at the same time Lennie is falling in love with Joe Fontaine. She even asks the question is it possible to fall in love so soon after your sisters’ death.

Something that I also enjoyed was the quirkiness of the characters but they were so well written that it was all believable. Fun Facts: the letters that Lennie scatters all over town, the Pyramids, the spotted plant are all based on truth.I do not want to ruin the book because there are no words  good enough to articulate, how devastating, heartfelt this book is. It is so well written that before I even knew that the author was a poet I could pick it up in her writing style.Side note: this book created quite the hype and there are talks of it being turned into a movie. This book is a great read for a seasoned bookworm and someone who has known grief (so basically all of us).

“My sister will die over and over again for the rest of my life. Grief is forever. It doesn’t go away, it becomes part of you, step for step, breath for breath.”

I lost my one brother 20 years ago and today would’ve been his 38^th birthday. So I dedicate this post to him, Happy Birthday Mntakwethu (brother).  As always thank you for your non refundable gift that is your time.