The Cure for Grief

As the novel opens Ruby is part of a happy family, with two parents and three older brothers. Her father is a holocaust survivor and there is that awful shadow hanging over the story and the happiness in Ruby's life is going to be sorely tried as she loses first a brother to madness, then both her father and another brother to brain tumors. These tragedies are part of what shapes Ruby's adolescence as she struggles to understand and cope with sadness and sometimes rage and certainly grief. I lost my father when I was in junior high school. We were very close and it was very traumatic. Not a day goes by and it's been a long, long time, that I don't think about him, so I was able to put myself in Ruby's shoes pretty easily, though the writing is so good, that I think anybody will be able to identify with her. But this book is more, I think, than the grief of a young girl. It's about the grief of a people too, even if it's not so precisely stated. That holocaust shadow still covers much of the world with it's inky blackness, reminding us that we shouldn't forget. This books helps remind us too, because it really is more than just a young girl's story and the grief she suffers.

As the story opens nine-year-old Ruby Bronstein is on vacation with her family in Maine. She has three older brothers -- nineteen-year-old Abe who excels at everything and was a virtuoso violinist when he was only six, seventeen-year-old Aaron who is skinny and precocious and spends too much time in the emergency room getting stitches and fourteen-year-old blond Nathan who loves music and plays the guitar and cello. It is Nathan who Ruby feels closest to. Ruby seems happy, but it's not to last. Abe slides into schizophrenia, then Ruby's father, who survived the holocaust, develops a brain tumor and dies. Nathan later gets the same kind of cancer and dies as well. And through the tragedy in Ruby's life we see her cope as she goes from camp to the prom, but can anybody really cope? Is there really a cure from grief? Nellie Hermann has written an important first novel that deals not only with Ruby's grief, but with the grief of the holocaust as well. I didn't think so at first, but it's been a week since I've finished it and I've been to dozens of websites, reading and learning about the horrible thing that happened before and during the second world war, something I wouldn't have done if I hadn't read this book. It's affected me more than I ever would have thought possible.

This was a deeply moving story about Ruby Bronstein and her struggle from the age of 10 to deal with loss and grief. She is the youngest child of an upper middle class Jewish family in Massachusets. She is also the only girl with three brothers 5, 8 and 10 years older than her. Her father is a holocoust survivor and a warm and loving father yet distant with firm strict rules. Her first loss in her family is when her oldest brother becomes mentally ill and never is the same again. In fact, an older Ruby will barely remember him before his mental illness. Soon after this tragedy her father is diagnosed with a brain tumor and within a couple of years he dies. Her oldest brother, Abe, has been hospitalized for his illness, the next oldest, Aaron, is away at college. Her brother, Nathan, closest to her age and the one she was closest to has just recently left for college. Nathan one day while at home begins to have symptoms that result in his being diagnosed with the same tumor their father had. He ends up in a coma and then finally he as well dies. Throughout all of these trials Ruby is an adolecesent then teenager trying to live a normal life. Her oldest brother begins to live with her and her mother again, yet, he is still unbalanced and not well at all. Her grief is so bottled up within her she is just going through the motions. She stays in her bedroom most of the time when at home. When at school and with her friends she trys to leave her other world behind her. This is a deeply moving story with a honest, believable ending to the novel. The losses and sorrow this young girl has to go through in her formidable years is overwhelming. Yet, the power of family and love and faith seem to come through and it was a very satisfying book to read. My heart went out to this family, most especially Ruby. This is worth reading. Remarkable work by this author.

"The Cure for Grief" is extremely well written. The author, Nellie Hermann, seems to have a keen understanding of grief. I felt as though I was reading my own thoughts about grief as I read this novel. The main character, Ruby, details her experiences growing up and dealing with tragedy. I found this novel to be crushingly depressing. Although, I have never experienced the level of tradjedy that befalls Ruby, I found myself thinking back to the people I have lost. I felt as though I was feeling the same emotions as Ruby. I recommend this book for anyone who wants to understand how grief affects people. However, it may be painfully realistic to those who are currently coping with loss. I found this novel to be deeply moving and I'm still thinking about it, several days after finishing it.

Hermann's book tells the story of a young girl, Ruby, who suffers immense family losses as she grows up. The first half of the book chronicles these losses and Hermann does an amazing job of capturing the way shock can make terrible moments pass by almost without realizing how awful they are. Hermann lets Ruby lead the reader as she compartmentalizes and endures. In the second half of the book we see Ruby delve into her suffering and deal with her losses. This story offers the reader an opportunity to understand grief and the regeneration of love and emotional presence after loss. Highly, highly recommended.