What does it mean to make friends with the dark? To be so lost in your grief that you can’t find any foreseeable way out? To come to terms with the death of a loved one, and find peace within yourself? Kathleen Glasgow, renowned author of Girl in Pieces, explores the black hole of grief in her new novel, How to Make Friends with the Dark, in which a teenage girl unexpectedly loses her mother, and learns just how dark of a place grief can be.
Tiger Tolliver just wants the things that all teenage girls want - to hang out with her best friend, shop for her own clothes, and go to the school dance with her crush. While Tiger’s mom can be a little absent-minded and quirky, there’s no doubting that she loves Tiger with her entire heart ... maybe a little too much. Tiger is finding her mom’s over-protectiveness to be a bit suffocating, so one day she blows her off, and that’s when the unthinkable happens. Her mom dies.
How to Make Friends with the Dark is one of those novels that will hit right at home for anyone who has suffered a terrible loss. Glasgow perfectly captures the overwhelming feelings of loneliness, sorrow, hopelessness, confusion, and guilt that follows the death of a loved one within her story of Tiger, a young girl who loses the most important figure in her life - her mother.
Not only is Glasgow’s writing in this book beautiful; so is her story of Tiger who moves through the grief process before our eyes in the novel. From unbearable loss, to foster homes, to self-destructive behaviors, to finding yourself again, Glasgow realistically portrays grief in a relatable, compassionate way.
Rating: **** Stars (I really liked it)
- Brooke, Public Relations Librarian
ARE YOU AND THIS BOOK A GOOD MATCH? DISCOVER MORE WITH NOVELIST APPEALS! How to Make Friends with the Dark
GENRE: Realistic Fiction; THEME: Coping with Death (The characters in these stories are coping with grief and loss after the passing of someone close to them.) CHARACTER: Brooding STORYLINE: Character-Driven TONE: Bleak; Emotionally Intense; Melancholy WRITING STYLE: Gritty
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