Book Reviews

Smiling Through Your Tears: Anticipating Grief,

 Lois Krahn, MD, Co-author, Published by Amazon.com.

Smiling Through Your Tears: Anticipating Grief 
By Harriet Hodgson, BS, MA and Lois Krahn, MD

Reviewed by Helen Fitzgerald, CT
Training Director, American Hospice Foundation

    Anticipatory or early grief is feeling the loss before it occurs.  If you are anticipating the loss of a loved one or even a pet, you may find this book very helpful.  If you are a hospice worker, mental health therapist, member of the clergy or member of a hospital staff, you will find a lot to work with in this book.

    Little has been written about anticipatory grief.  Some books on grief include a chapter or two on this topic, but Harriet Hodgson and Lois Krahn have written an entire book devoted to the many variations of early grief.  Included is a chapter on what the authors see as early grief in anticipation of more terrorism attacks after the 9/11 bombing of the World Trade Center.  However, the main focus of the book is loss associated with impending death.

    Anticipatory grief is on the rise in our society because chronically ill people are being kept alive longer.  The grief they feel is often misunderstood, and thus not unattended to.  Smiling Through Your Tears offers suggestions to guide readers toward their own healing.  Topics addressed include grief reactions to change within one’s life, factors that shape early grief, the symptoms or stages of early grief, responses to early grief, and complications that can occur.

    Of particular interest is the chapter titled “When Early Grief Gets Complicated.”  Here the authors explain how family history and family relationships play a role in our own grief.  Being aware of this link will help all of us to assess what to expect from our family members, should the time arrive in our own lives.

    When there is an anticipated death in the family, the caregiver often focuses entirely on the needs of the dying person, even neglecting his or her own health.  The authors give us permission to take care of ourselves and suggest helpful ways to do so.

    In the last chapter, titled “How Early Grief May Help You,” the authors make a good case for the claim that loss can have a positive effect on one’s life and can increase self understanding.  This book offers compassion, hope and even humor.

If you'd like to purchase this book, please consider doing so on Amazon.com.  The American Hospice Foundation earns up to 5% for each purchase you make using the link below.

To purchase Smiling Through Your Tears: Anticipating Grief, click here.

q       Food Label Detective, published by Minnesota Medical Association Alliance.  Reviews from fifth grade students, including their misspellings

        “I like the book a lot because it gave clues and

  I learned more about health.”

“I thought it was exciting and fun.”

“It was a little bite hard and a little bite easy.”  (This is my favorite  “review” and from an author’s standpoint, a writing bulls-eye.)

“If you eat too much sweets the book will help you get rid of it.” 

“I think it is kind of nice and cool to write in.  It had fun things in     

  there and it had lots of words.”

“I thought it was good and it had a hole bunch of good ideas. 

  I  became a food label detective thanks to the first 5 pages.”

q       Catching the Exercise Thief: A Game Book for Kids, Minnesota Medical Association Alliance.

q       Smart Aging: Taking Charge of Your Physical and Emotional Health, published by John Wiley & Sons.  Review from Ingram.

“Real-life stories help readers embrace the joys of aging.”

q       The Alzheimer’s Caregiver:  Dealing With the Realities of Dementia, published by John Wiley & Sons.  From the Rochester Post-Bulletin,

    December 13, 1997.

“Takes the son or daughter or spouse through just about everything

  they will face.”  Pauline Walle                                                                                                

q       Alzheimer’s: Finding the Words, A Communication Guide for Those

    Who Care, published by John Wiley & Sons. From amazon.com

*****  “Harriet Hodgson . . . has done an excellent job in giving us a guidebook for communicating in the daily struggle all caregivers go through . . . Brenda Parris

                From Home Health Reviews

****  “This book is perhaps one of the better books on dementia from a caregiver’s perspective in a long time.” From The Library Journal, June 15, 1995

*  “Thoughtfully and sensitively, she leads readers through the progressive stages of this disease.  Hodgson always follows up her personal thoughts, feelings, and beliefs by the latest research findings and intersperses throughout relevant books cited by title and author, giving credence to her impressions. . . . A perfect choice for public libraries.”  Linda Malone, DePaul Medical Center, Norfolk, VA

*****  “Clear, well organized, insightful and easy to understand, this book models that of which it writes: good communication.”   Peter Waite                                                                                                      

q       When You Love a Child: For the Times When Caring for Kids is Difficult, published by Fairview Press.  From the Detroit Free Press, May 4, 1993

“Rich in insight. . . . If you have children and a demanding schedule,

  make room on the nightstand [for this book].  Patricia Ansette