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A review by hardcoverhearts
The Futilitarians: Our Year of Thinking, Drinking, Grieving, and Reading by Anne Gisleson
4.0
I know it is a romantic notion, but I do believe that there are times when a book finds its way to you at the moment you need it most. Such was the case with this book. I was granted an Advanced Reader's Copy from the publisher, Little, Brown, and Company a while ago, and events conspired to put this lower and lower on my pile. Time passed. In that time, my father also passed away.
As fate would have it- this book is about a specific way the author found to understand life, grief, and her community after the loss of her twin sisters, father and in the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina which devastated her hometown. She gathered a group of like-minded people to create a unique book club- The Existential Crisis Reading Group of those left behind in the aftermath of the storms. It's a book about finding answers in books and people. It's also a book about healing through big, universal ideas that span the course of history. It is smart, honest, literary, thoughtful and poignant. The subject matter was dealt with seriously, without platitudes or easy answers. I appreciated the gravitas that existed in the material, while the author was also able to infuse a sense of vibrancy still coursing through her.
I don't know if I would have resonated with the material if I read it before the passing of my father. There is a specific and unknowable experience that happens with the death of a parent that I realize now I could never have been prepared for, regardless of how deeply I studied the subject. It's experiential. Reading this book was a balm for my heart and my mind, as it brought the existential questions to the foreground, as her book club discussed them. For a bibliophile and a daughter, this was a magic combination to find in a book. I look forward to going back to this book from time to time as there is a lot there to contemplate.
Thanks to Little, Brown, and Company for the ARC in exchange for an unbiased review.
As fate would have it- this book is about a specific way the author found to understand life, grief, and her community after the loss of her twin sisters, father and in the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina which devastated her hometown. She gathered a group of like-minded people to create a unique book club- The Existential Crisis Reading Group of those left behind in the aftermath of the storms. It's a book about finding answers in books and people. It's also a book about healing through big, universal ideas that span the course of history. It is smart, honest, literary, thoughtful and poignant. The subject matter was dealt with seriously, without platitudes or easy answers. I appreciated the gravitas that existed in the material, while the author was also able to infuse a sense of vibrancy still coursing through her.
I don't know if I would have resonated with the material if I read it before the passing of my father. There is a specific and unknowable experience that happens with the death of a parent that I realize now I could never have been prepared for, regardless of how deeply I studied the subject. It's experiential. Reading this book was a balm for my heart and my mind, as it brought the existential questions to the foreground, as her book club discussed them. For a bibliophile and a daughter, this was a magic combination to find in a book. I look forward to going back to this book from time to time as there is a lot there to contemplate.
Thanks to Little, Brown, and Company for the ARC in exchange for an unbiased review.