Memorial Days: Book Review

Published
29 January 2022

I have read three other books by Geraldine Brooks (People of the Book being my favorite), and I had the chance to meet her at a book signing at Watermark Books and Cafe in Wichita, Kansas. Consequently, when I saw that she had a nonfiction book out, I picked it up. 

The occasion of Memorial Days is heartbreaking: her husband Tony Horwitz died unexpectedly on Memorial Day 2019, and this was obviously devastating form Brooks. As many writers do, she worked through her grief by writing about him, his work as a journalist and book author, and their relationship. Additionally, this caused her to stop writing for a time. However, Tony had expressed the importance of her work in progress, so she finally pushed herself to finish the book--which was Horse, which she managed to publish in 2022--despite her persistent grief. 

You will see that I have read and reviewed a number of books about bereavement. Nevertheless, I find them engaging because everyone's loss is particular to them--their personality, their relationship to the deceased, and their way of managing loss.  Brooks builds a lot of context for her grief.  Even though I am a big fan of Brooks, I never looked into her personal life. I did not know she was married to an American journalists nor that they had two sons. They were living in Martha's Vineyard at the time where they were building strong friendships.  Tony had a more outgoing and frenetic personality. He has won a lot of awards.  And the two of them supported each other's writing to the point where they was a little collaboration happening because they would give each other advice during all stages of the writing process. 

Losing someone when they die is devastating, but when there are no warning signs, it is such a shock to mind, body, and spirit.  It's hard to function. All my best to Geraldine for moving into a future that she though would include Tony for decades; he predeceased his mother who was in her 90s at the time of his death from a widow-making heart attack.  Here she imagined going through years and years with him at her side, and now she has to parent two young adults, run her household, and write books with a gaping absence.  

Peace and comfort to all who are bereft of loved ones, particularly the ones who maintain a daily presence.  It is a gift that she forged her grief into a book that contains a lot of emotion conveyed through an artful gathering of specific detail about Tony and his world. 

Related: 

Books about the Dying Process