Comments on: 9/11 Widows Learn to Think About the Unthinkable http://oneminutebookreviews.wordpress.com/2006/10/24/911-widows-learn-to-think-about-the-unthinkable/ Janice Harayda Reviews Fiction, Nonfiction and Poetry for Adults and Children Mon, 20 May 2013 13:35:15 +0000 hourly 1 http://wordpress.com/ By: 1minutebookreviewswordpresscom http://oneminutebookreviews.wordpress.com/2006/10/24/911-widows-learn-to-think-about-the-unthinkable/#comment-4602 Tue, 06 Nov 2007 00:29:43 +0000 http://oneminutebookreviews.wordpress.com/2006/10/24/911-widows-learn-to-think-about-the-unthinkable/#comment-4602 Some people seem to mean so well, yet get it so wrong. The 9/11 widows say in “Love You, Mean It” that their husbands’ bodies hadn’t even been recovered before people began to use a variation on one of the lines you mentioned by saying, in effect, “At least you have your beautiful children” (who had just lost their father). It must have been to painful to hear …

Ruth Coughlin mentions other insensitive comments in her “Grieving: A Love Story” (a widely praised memoir of the death of her husband, Bill, a judge). Thanks so much for your thoughtful comments.

]]> By: Roads http://oneminutebookreviews.wordpress.com/2006/10/24/911-widows-learn-to-think-about-the-unthinkable/#comment-4601 Mon, 05 Nov 2007 20:21:01 +0000 http://oneminutebookreviews.wordpress.com/2006/10/24/911-widows-learn-to-think-about-the-unthinkable/#comment-4601 Bereavement and widowhood are desperately difficult.

You’re entirely right, as well, that people will for some reason insist on saying exactly the wrong thing.

‘Don’t worry – you’ll get over it.’

‘At least you’ve got the children.’

and

‘Wow, what a lovely day. It just makes you feel so glad to be alive.’ Yes, I remember that one the most, and it really made me laugh. I just wasn’t sure if I should cry first.

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