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sujuv's review
4.0
A moving, graphic novel memoir of a father's grief following the unexpected death of his nearly 2-year old. Lovely and bleak.
caseysilk's review
4.0
4.5 This is one of the most beautiful and haunting graphic novels I have read. Tom Hart and his wife lost their daughter Rosalie suddenly one night. This book is a celebration of Rosalie's life and a raw look at parent's grief over losing a child.
erinbeever's review
5.0
Heartbreaking and full of such love. I think Tom Hart beautifully illustrated grief and the weight of what has been lost.
lizaroo71's review
5.0
This has been on my TBR for a while. I finally got around to it and I am just gutted. Losing a child is unimaginable. Hart and his wife lose their beautiful Rosalie before she turns two. Writing a graphic memoir is a way to show that grief.
I read this in one sitting. I came to understand the tremendous loss Hart and his wife experienced. I came to know how life can change in a matter of seconds. And how it's so hard to keep living.
I read this in one sitting. I came to understand the tremendous loss Hart and his wife experienced. I came to know how life can change in a matter of seconds. And how it's so hard to keep living.
shinesalot's review
5.0
Oof. Tom Hart writes and illustrates coping with the sudden and untimely death of his baby daughter. It’s amazing how he writes about the days, weeks, and months that follow in a way that’s…somehow timeless. As in - as a reader, there are times when you really can’t tell how much time has passed - much how time likely passes when you are grieving.
It’s a brutal read just because it’s such a raw and true capturing of how a family keeps going.
It’s a brutal read just because it’s such a raw and true capturing of how a family keeps going.
fleurdujour's review
5.0
This book was probably the saddest book I've ever read. It also made me cry the hardest. Tom Hart beautifully chronicles the hellish turn his wife and his lives took when one morning their young daughter Rosalie suddenly and unexpectedly died. This was a haunting, beautiful, and completely devastating read. One moment that especially stood out to me is when Tom and his wife, Leela, go to a grief counselor where Tom says he wishes he could smash mountains in his rage at the loss of Rosalie- after the counselor encourages him to take up something physical to work through that rage, like chopping wood, Tom explains that his drawings are his way to work through his grief. Rosalie Lightning is a result of Tom's mountain smashing, and he left us with a stunning tribute to his daughter's short life and a meditation on the answer to the question no one ever wants to be faced with: What do you do when your child dies?
jestintzi's review
5.0
This book really feels like grief embodied, and it was really touching and brutal. I think at times I was a little disconnected to some of the other pieces of literature/culture Hart was pulling in (mostly because I didn’t have familiarity with a lot of it, though it wasn’t inaccessible to me, he definitely gives enough context for it to have something to grasp) but it definitely still hit. The obsession with Rosalie, the way the book will just snap back to her in a moment’s notice, is really strong. Reads a little bit more on the “poetic” side, in terms of how the book moves, which I appreciate but might jar some more narrative-centered readers.
tlindhorst's review
5.0
Heartbreaking remembrance of a sweet little girl who died suddenly around 2years old. This is dad's review of what happened.