Thank you to NetGalley for allowing me to read this in exchange for an honest review.

A beautifully written mix of memoir and nonfiction about grief in general. The author lost her mom and sister within three years of one another. Delves into various types of grief, including grieving a celebrity and a pet.

Engaging and insightful. A recommended purchase for collections where grief and psychology titles are popular.

I thoroughly enjoyed this real world take on take on grief. It was not especially humorous, but it did focus on many of the less discussed aspects of grief. I think this would be helpful to anyone dealing with a loss.

Wow I highly recommend this book especially those dealing with grief and it would make a great gift for someone as well.

Having just lost my sister tragically last year, I was a little skeptical about reading yet another book on grief. I was pleasantly surprised. I found So Sorry for Your Loss to be extremely validating of my feelings. Grief is wild journey that I will be on for the rest of my days. This book helps me feel like I am not so much alone in my thoughts and feelings about the loss of a beloved one.

It has been over 15 years since I first crossed paths with Dina Gachman, author of "So Sorry for Your Loss: How I learned to Live with Grief, and Other Grave Concerns."

It was 2007. The occasion was the release of Gachman's first and only directorial effort, "Archer House." It was an incredibly well done short film and I eagerly anticipated the future efforts to come.

By now, of course, we know that future efforts did not arrive. As I watched Gachman over the years, and we are what I would call casual friends on a single social media platform, it became increasingly apparent that she had immersed herself in the world of writing and she had immersed herself in life.

So, I'm not particularly surprised that 15 years I am back revisiting Gachman's creative world with the upcoming release of "So Sorry for Your Loss."

Despite the different worlds in which we live, Gachman and I have at least shared some similarities within our life journeys. Since losing her mother to cancer in 2018 and her sister to alcoholism less than three years later, Gachman has explored what it means to process grief, heal after loss, and figure out how to stay connected to those we've lost.

As a lifelong paraplegic with spina bifida, I began my own recent journey with grief following the loss of a limb in 2019 that was followed a year later by the death of my mother after a prolonged illness, the death of my brother to pancreatic cancer complicated by lifelong addiction issues, and a longtime best friend whose own journey with spina bifida ended within this past year. Diagnosed with bladder cancer just before Christmas 2022, my own world has suddenly been consumed by health issues, healing, loss, grief, and the search for peace in a world that so often wants drive-thru answers to the complexities of life.

Indeed, it was within pages that Gachman first brought me to tears and it would be the first of several times during my journey with "So Sorry For Your Loss." It's a book that's grounded deeply within Gachman's own experiences yet also a book that weaves into its literary fabric insights from world experts and even bits of humor within its humanity. While there are hints of Kubler Ross here, Gachman aims less for a prescriptive grief and more for a grief that is given room to breathe, heal, flex its heart muscles, acknowledge its vulnerabilities, and find its ever-changing place where it belongs within one's life.

At times, "So Sorry for Your Loss" is aching and vulnerable. Other times, Gachman steps away from her own grief and moves into the universal threads that connect the community of those who have experienced loss and grief. There's no question I most resonated with "So Sorry for Your Loss" during its more personal times, the mutual shared experience of having lost both a parent and a sibling during a short period both connecting me to Gachman more fully and undeniably amplifying the reading experience. I connected less, perhaps, when Gachman opened up this world of grief to the vastness of what it means to lose and grief, find hope and live life forever changed.

Having just revisited C.S. Lewis's "A Grief Observed," I welcomed the full array of Gachman's emotional and physical journey here. For Lewis, "A Grief Observed" was such a deviation from his usual writing that he initially released it under a pseudonym. For the Gachman I've observed from a distance over the years, "So Sorry for Your Loss" possesses the honesty, emotional resonance, factual storytelling, and relational writing that have empowered Gachman in becoming a bestselling author and journalist whose words and experiences inform, educate, and empower.

While grief is never a "one size fits all" journey, Dina Gachman's "So Sorry For Your Loss" is a compelling and compassionate companion for those who grieve whether in the early days or still adjusting to life years later. You may not necessarily feel your grief melting away, however, I can't help but think that after reading "So Sorry for Your Loss" you'll at least feel a little less alone.

Dina Gachman delves into a pain all of us know, but all of us experience so very differently. Gachman’s essays are filled with smart anecdotes, expertise, and a beautifully illustrated picture of family dynamics and how complicated they can be. I loved the expert opinions and psychological anecdotes throughout the book, and how they were mixed seamlessly into Gauchman’s personal story – though I do feel that the lines between a personal memoir and a non-fiction research piece/self-help book were a bit blurry.

As someone who has experienced deep loss, I appreciated the mention that, although sometimes people don’t know what to say, there’s nothing worse than their silence, but to also be careful of “helpful not helpful” comments and outdated sentiments. I think this is important for people to learn, as many traditional “kind words” are now antiquated and not helpful (“God never gives you more than you can handle” etc.). Accepting the finality of death is a difficult journey, and through reading this book I felt comfort in knowing that 1. I’m not the only one who has felt these ways (she makes the reader feel very seen and validated) and 2. There is science behind why your brain is going through the cycles the way it does. You are not crazy and you are not “doing it wrong”. Grief is not linear and it is always unique.

I think this would be a great read for anybody who has lost a loved one, but especially to cancer and to substance abuse. Dina Gachman’s words are intelligent, informative, heartfelt, and often times humorous, making this a very well rounded book that may people will appreciate.

I was skeptical as to how helpful this book would be. It turns out So Sorry for Your Loss validated my feelings and echoed many of my thoughts. Dina addresses all forms of grief and from multiple perspectives. She even talks about climate grief. Who knew this was even a thing?! But my reason for reading it was for help with the grief of losing loved ones. I identified with so much of what she said and while I feel like I went through another level of grief while reading it, I did find it helpful. Thank you @NetGalley and Union Square & Co. for an ARC of this book. I definitely recommend it and also think it could be helpful for families of alcoholics. Unfortunately I have experience losing a family member to this addiction as well and she captures how that feels too. If nothing else, it helps you realize you are not alone in your feelings when trying to process grief.

Author Dina Gachman has written a wonderful help book on dealing with grief. Losing my grandmother, and both of my parents within the last few years, I had to read through this book when I saw it on NetGalley. My father suffered from alcohol addiction as well. Hiding tears while being around children, the unfairness, unpredictable emotions, and more is where Gachman helped me. Also, when she writes "how does one prepare for what is ultimately a mystery?" is spot-on. That's where I felt Gachman really understood what I went through. Thank you to the author for a very good read. Some of the personal stories were a little too much detailed for me, but other than that - I loved it.

Thank you to the publisher via NetGalley for this arc. I voluntarily read it and all opinions are my own.

This is as enjoyable a read as any book about grief could be, which is no small feat. It is real and raw and a shows the nuances that come with loss - laughter, pain, and everything on the rollercoaster of emotion. There is power in giving voice to the grieving. This book accomplishes that.

I thought this book would resonate with me at least, if not help me. My sibling passed a few years ago and I haven’t been able to find much helpful information on grief and grieving. This book is not it.

The author drones on about hospice care and her own experience with a family member with a prolonged as well as losing her sister unexpectedly. For me there is just too much anecdotal writing to be helpful. The information on grief itself was just kind of thrown in there. There’s a whole section on what the author ate at a cafeteria.

Just not for me I guess. I’m still on the hunt for a way to process my own grief.

Thanks NetGalley and Union Square & Co. - A subsidiary of Sterling Publishing for the review copy!

“So Sorry for Your Loss - How I Learned to Live with Grief, and Other Grave Concerns” by Dina Gachman is kind of a self-help book. It is a book that discovers and explores grief and losing someone.

The author, Dina Gachman, tells stories from her own personal life where she has dealt with grief. From losing her mother to cancer and then her sister to alcoholism. In this book, she tells about that and her grief. She also, however, shares what helped her to find hope and light in the darkest times. Besides her own personal stories, she also shares experts findings and opinions on grief.

This is a very good book explaining grief. It is a book for you who is in grief right now, but it is also a book for the friend of someone in grief. I am sure this book will help a lot of people.

So Sorry for Your Loss by Dina Gachman is a truly heartfelt exploration of grief and how families navigate losing a loved one. The writing and stories were raw, emotional, and also enlightening, especially regarding hospice care. It took me a minute to realize the idea behind the cover. It is true that people bring casseroles and food when someone passes.

I would highly recommend this memoir and how this author and her family processed their feelings, trials and tribulations, and helped each other during one of the most challenging times in a person's life.

#NetGalley @UnionSqandCo

This is a wonderful memoir and self-help resource, and I'm very excited about getting it for our library. There are so few books on this subject that are so compulsively readable!

I lost 2 grandparents and my dad all within a year and it completely gutted me. I have a hard time some days and this book was good for me. There have been several books that I have read and each one has helped a little more.
I just reviewed So Sorry for Your Loss by Dina Gachman. #NetGalley
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This was a really easy read on death and the after effects in someone's life. This family experienced a good death and a bad death. I loved how the author expressed her feelings and she showed some real harsh facts about death and feelings. I would recommend this book to anyone who has experienced loss.