If Crosley’s descriptions of love for Russell are often dazzling and unexpected, her meditations on grief are occasionally clichéd. But bromides are par for the course when it comes to bereavement, and this, too, is part of the indignity of loss ... Grief may follow a familiar path in every instance, but Russell himself was fiercely original, and Crosley paints a vivid and moving portrait of a singularity ... Not a philosophical meditation on grief but an honest account of its cruelties and contradictions. It contains no lessons, no morals and no solutions. It is not didactic. It is as messy, rollicking and chaotic as life isnot a philosophical meditation on grief but an honest account of its cruelties and contradictions. It contains no lessons, no morals and no solutions. It is not didactic. It is as messy, rollicking and chaotic as life is ... Crosley holds Russell in her heart with humor and humanity, and although she emphasizes that writing is not a consolation or an act of therapy, it is nonetheless a testament.
Not without amusing episodes — I don’t know that someone as funny as Crosley appears on the page could abandon humor entirely — but overall the book is more bold, probing, and exposed than anything else she has published ... Grief Is for People feels like she is staring directly at the reader, unshielded and unprotected ... With this latest work, she demonstrates that the converse is also true: By attesting to her pain so publicly and poignantly, Crosley again shows her noteworthy literary chops, as well as her unambiguous love for all that’s been lost.
The weight of suicide as a subject, paired with Crosley’s exceptional ability to write juicy conversation, prevents it from being the kind of slim volume one flies through and forgets. Her signature shrewdness comes through particularly in the Depression section, which shows the author in the depths of her grief, but offers relief through humorous lines of dialogue and passing thoughts on pandemic-era activities ... Though humor can feel downright medicinal in a time of grief, it has its limits. There are moments when the memoir reveals this, when Crosley is confronted by the reality that a joke is not a sustainable way of processing her pain ... Offering us a look into his life through the lens of her love, pain and admiration. Telling us, with precision and generosity, how it might be when it is our turn to remember what was true about those we’ve lost.
By wrangling her complicated friend onto the pages of this elegiac book, Crosley holds onto what she can. The result is a noteworthy addition to the literature of grief.
[Crosley] ranges from black humor in the face of grief to a silky cattiness ... She bows to no orthodoxy: Grief is as peculiar as the people to whom it appends.
Crosley can’t help but write even the grimmest of explorations with a wit so dry it will make you thirsty ... Manages to be both funny and full of what-will-happen-next moments.
A tender, moving and whip-smart meditation on friendship and loss, and the latest in the rich tradition of brutally honest female-driven nonfiction ... By looking to unpack it, to explain it, all with her signature bite and humor, Crosley does come to a sort of understanding. Our circumstances may be different, she seems to say, but we all must learn to mourn.
Crosley expertly weaves her humor into the narrative, never shying away from finding the lighthearted in the macabre. Her storytelling abilities are mesmerizing as she balances themes of angst, love, and heartbreak, all whilst maintaining an introspective, intimate, and frank voice. While it’s true that Grief Is for People by Sloane Crosley is a book about grief, it is also a book about ultimate perseverance.
Tightly woven and sophisticated ... As the memoir progresses, it becomes increasingly clear how different the two were from one another, as well as how much of himself Perreault had willfully obscured.
Crosley is thoughtful about things most people don’t want to think about ... Even bereaved, Crosley is funny, just about more inappropriate things than usual (not a criticism) ... It is a short book that could have been shorter — I’m not sure we need the detailed literary scandal, or the bit about the pandemic — but that’s not really important. It’s honest and hedgehog-fierce with love.
Vivid ... Sloane is reflective, thinking deeply about what her raw experience means, trying to understand it; often the reward is an uncovered truth, or sharp insight.
A bereavement memoir like no other. Heart-wrenching yet witty, it bears a distinctive structure and offers fascinating glimpses into the New York City publishing world ... This sui generis memoir--sting operation meets stage tragedy--is a bittersweet treasure
Grief Is for People places at the forefront a remarkable willingness to face the dark questions that follow a suicide ... Her search for acceptance is an impulse that readers who have mourned a loved one may recognize—an effort to map a new emotional landscape on what looks, to a non-mourner’s eye, like the same old world.
An aching meditation ... Her characteristically whip-smart prose takes on a newly introspective quality as she reinvigorates dusty publishing memoir tropes and captures the minutiae of a complicated friendship with humor and heart. This is a must-read.
Crosley’s memoir is not only a joy to read, but also a respectful and philosophical work about a colleague’s recent suicide ... A marvelously tender memoir on suicide and loss.
