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When I read Sloane Crosley’s essay collection I Was Told There’d Be Cake in 2019, I reflected that I planned to read more of her writing in the future, if only so I could decide how I felt about it. Recently, I picked up Grief is for People and decided I still don’t know. This memoir spans only a few years, but explores a series of losses in Crosley’s life: the loss of her jewelry after her apartment is broken into, the loss of her friend to suicide soon after, and some time later, the loss of the city as she knows it to the pandemic. I found myself utterly captivated by the first half of the book, in which Crosley obsesses over finding her jewelry as a way of reclaiming something larger that she’s lost — the nature of her writing had me forgetting at times that this is nonfiction, and not in fact a movie starring any number of Hollywood’s elite. But the second half seems almost disconnected from the first, and meanders from speculation about the state of her friend’s marriage before his death to reliving those early days of fear and uncertainty during the pandemic. Maybe this is intentional on Crosley’s part — after all, grief isn’t linear, either — but I found myself surprised that I was so conflicted about the book by the end. If you’ve picked this one up, I’d love to hear your thoughts! 📸: I’m holding up a kindle displaying the ebook cover of Grief is for People with one hand. via Instagram https://instagr.am/p/C8RwhDaP7mH/
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