Making Toast, by Roger Rosenblatt

Making Toast is a memoir written by Roger Rosenblatt, who's daughter Amy died unexpectedly and suddenly from a rare heart condition, while running on her treadmill.  Amy had a husband, Harris, and three children, Jessica, Sammy, and James (affectionately known as Bubbies), who are 6, 4 and one year old respectively.  When Amy died, Roger and his wife, Ginny, moved in with the grieving family to help them somehow rebuild their lives, and to be there for them in their time of grief.  This memoir details the everyday goings on of a family who has lost an integral member, and it shows how life goes on, and how young children deal with grief and loss.

This book is written in a different style than most memoirs I have read.  It isn't broken up into chapters, but instead is divided into small sections, where Roger tells stories of how the family merged into one cohesive unit for the children, and how the children reacted to finding their mother's body, dealing with her loss, and learning to accept the situation.  It is a sad yet sweet book, which celebrates Amy's life as well as memorializes her death.  The tales tell us that grieving is a long and difficult process, that it affects everyone in different ways, and that there is a way to move on from even the most devastating circumstances.

I would recommend this book everyone, but especially to anyone who might be dealing with a form of loss, especially if they have lost a loved one.  It shows us how resiliant people can be, and that even after an extremely sad event such as a mother's death, life finds a way to go on.