Review of The Rules of Inheritance, by Claire Bidwell Smith

The Rules of Inheritance: A Memoir by Claire Bidwell Smith
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

I think this will be a book I'll come back to again and again. I feel solidarity with Claire--I was born to older parents, with much older siblings, and raised as if an only child. Both parents have gone through serious health scares but have come through, though I know I'll be touched by loss sooner or later, in one way or another. We all are. The portrait of Claire's journey is moving, and I admire her honesty and her big heart. She's turned the blackness of her grief to gold, through writing this book and through her work as a grief counselor, to help others move through grief as gracefully, messily, honestly, as possible. There's a lot to learn here. Whether it's our own loss or a loss someone close to us experiences, I love what she says: "When I talk to grieving people, it's like looking at a negative image--the deeper the grief, the more evidence of love I see."

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