From the East Bay Express
Planet Widow
By Gloria Lenhart
Seal, $14.95
One Saturday morning, 42-year-old East Bayite Lenhart suddenly became a widow and single mother of two young sons. As she sat in her home office catching up on paperwork, her husband literally dropped dead on the sidewalk a few blocks away. This is Lenhart's no-nonsense, very readable account of the next year or so. In the wake of her massive loss came a plethora of practicalities for her to deal with: a dizzying financial situation (he had always handled the bills); a strained, sticky relationship with the family of her husband's ex-wife; her increasingly withdrawn youngest son; the weirdness of returning to work after such an event; and, of course, the earnest yet unidentifiable people who came up to her in such public places as the neighborhood supermarket to offer their condolences: After one such incident, Lenhart started shopping at a store ten miles away. But amidst all the pain and bewilderment, a dry, indomitable sense of humor complements the absurdities of life on "Planet Widow." For example, Lenhart is in no rush to pick out a headstone for her husband, but her mother-in-law is. "It is becoming clear," she writes, "that there will be no peace in this world until her son is resting comfortably under a slab of granite." Lenhart closes the book with some direct, summarized advice on preparing for and coping with death, and recommendations for further reading both in print and online.
— Kim Hedges, East Bay Express
View article on East Bay Express
Download PDF
To share your thoughts or request an interview with the author, email contact@planetwidow.com.
|
