GRIEF IS A MESS, a brief book review

Today's post is a departure from my usual. It's a brief review of a very special book I received from a dear friend for my birthday earlier this month. A book about grief, something we each face as we wend our ways through this complicated life, with all its beauty and pain.

It's title -- GRIEF IS A MESS -- might lead one to think it's a serious book (it is) and that it is weighty (it is not). The author/artist, Jackie Schuld, addresses the issue of grieving with both insight and humor, and most of all a practical compassion. Her animal characters facial expressions, postures, and relationships to each other speak volumes. While beneath them her brief sentences echo them. (The book's front cover [above] and the back cover [below] give you a little taste of her art work. For a better look, visit her website. There's a link at end of this post.)

I live in a retirement community. And before I had the delight of receiving this book as a gift I'd witnessed my fellow residents unfailingly positive responses to it. (Jackie shared copies with us one evening; we have the fortune to have her grandmother living here.)

Jackie has produced a valuable resource for anyone dealing with the turbulence and unpredictability of grief's process. Even if one does not happen to be grieving on reading GRIEF IS A MESS, her art and wisdom will still touch the heart.

Here's her website, the SHOP tab below the octopus will give you all the information about purchasing a copy (or many more, it makes a most wonderful gift): Jackie Schuld: Painter, Illustrator Author. You might also enjoy exploring her other artistic efforts shared on her site.

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PLEASE NOTE: For many years now, I've been posting a poem of mine based on a night dream (and sometimes not) with one of my digital photos accompanying it. If you're curious, just keep scrolling down; I post here every day. And when the scrolling stops, you can go to the archives sidebar [down on the right] for even earlier posts. There are many more years of posts, including non-dream focused posts such as book reviews, writing exercises, haiga, and so on listed by dates in the archives going back as far as 2006.

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until next time, keep dreaming,





[aka: Patricia Kelly]

**** If you wish to copy or use any of my writing or poems, please email me for permission (under "View my complete profile") **** My other blogs: ROSWILA'S TAROT GALLERY & JOURNAL; ROSWILA'S TAIGA TAROT; TRYING TO HOLD A BOX OF LIGHT, digital photos; and THE MARKER TAROT. ****