Rating: 
Summary: Good Attempt for times when nothing will work.
Review: As a widower at the age of 30, I was clamoring for a "text-book" that would tell me exactly what to do next. How to feel, how to think, how to "recover".This is one of the first books that I read, and I remember being frustrated that it did not have the "answers" I was looking for. It was not until much later that I realized that nobody has those answers. The purpose of the book is to get you thinking in terms where YOU can come up with the answers that work for you. So, at two and a half years removed from the event, I can look back and understand why this is a good book. But if you are new on this journey, don't expect this book to be your salvation. Expect this book to help you realize that the future is up to you.
Rating: 
Summary: Excellent resource for young widows and widowers
Review: Being a young widower only 7 months into this hell I found that this book was very helpful in explaining that I was not alone in this world and there are many others like me. The many quotes used in the book have been said over and over in my mind a thousand times. It covers topics that no other books I have found does like dating, personal and family stresses, and many of the guilts we place on ourself and how other place their guilt onto us to ease their own. If you are not a widow or widower it is still a wonderful book to help you understand us and how we think. This book is a must for any young person who has lost a spouse or someone who is close to them. If you know of someone buy it for them Don't make them find it on their own like I had to. It is noted in this book and I must agree that it is not for the newly widowed...wait a couple months before giving it to them.
Rating:
Summary: It speaks directly to us younger widows and widowers.
Review: Even as my wife was dying with cancer, I could not accept she was dying. After she died, I was torn apart with emotions that I could not understand nor that I could come to grips with. I had difficult time with groups because I was not "old" and did not have 30-40 years of with my wife, but we did spend half our adult lives together, and this is significant. I started to read this book and felt as if the author knew not only how I was feeling but how I was trying to deal with my loss. This book helps validate the feelings, explain why I am feeling this way, and what I can do to try to move on without being spiritual or condensending. In fact, the author even recognizes that a widower's experience is different from a widows and seems to consider that throughout the book. If you are under 50 and have been widowed, buy this book, read it, then reread it again. It may provide as much help as a therapist!!
Rating:
Summary: Like a Support Group you hold in your hand
Review: I found this book to be extremely helpful. Written by a social worker who has run support groups for young widows/widowers for years, it brings a supportive view to your grief. She adds direct quotes from grieving people that really allows the reader to see they are not alone. I hated to finish it.
Rating:
Summary: Best Book for Young Widows/Widowers
Review: I lost my husband when I was 33. It was 6 months after our wedding. I scanned several grief books, attended support groups, etc. All seemed geared to the "older" widow/widower. This book hits home. I found myself nodding in agreement on almost every page... about feelings, other people, etc. I felt this book was written directly for me. It also made me realize that there are other "young" people out there going through the same things I am. I recommend this book to any young person that has lost a spouse.
Rating:
Summary: THE ONLY BOOK FOR YOUNG WIDOW/ERS
Review: Losing my wife to Breast Cancer at 31 and having to raise a 1 1/2 year old girl in a small mid southern town I was never at a loss for advice, judgment, or rumors. I was trapped in a group of well meaning people who had no idea what it was like to be a young widower. I felt guilt from people judging me, yet they had never walked in my shoes. I went to grief meetings and had nothing in common with the 60, 70, 80 year olds that were grieving their past. I was grieving my lost future and nobody could understand it. I wanted to start dating and people thought I was callous and snubbed me. I read books that were written for old widows with maybe a chapter on widowers and maybe a sentence about people under 50. A lot were spiritualy based and being in the spot I was my spiritual beliefs were a little ragged. Then I found this book and it truly CHANGED MY LIFE. I underlined half the book, nodded in agreement, cried, and even smiled. Perhaps other books have been written since but I never found another book that spoke to all of the issues that a young widow/er faces. I have given this book to others who have suffered a similar loss and they felt the same. The Author doesn't judge and the book is not a template. It gives you the permission to grieve any way you want to and lets you know that there are a select group of people that are in the same position as you and feel the same way you do. Four years after my wifes death I still cherish this book. If you are grieving and nobody seems to understand you or know someone in this horrible position this is THE book.
Rating:
Summary: THE ONLY BOOK FOR YOUNG WIDOW/ERS
Review: Losing my wife to Breast Cancer at 31 and having to raise a 1 1/2 year old girl in a small mid southern town I was never at a loss for advice, judgment, or rumors. I was trapped in a group of well meaning people who had no idea what it was like to be a young widower. I felt guilt from people judging me, yet they had never walked in my shoes. I went to grief meetings and had nothing in common with the 60, 70, 80 year olds that were grieving their past. I was grieving my lost future and nobody could understand it. I wanted to start dating and people thought I was callous and snubbed me. I read books that were written for old widows with maybe a chapter on widowers and maybe a sentence about people under 50. A lot were spiritualy based and being in the spot I was my spiritual beliefs were a little ragged. Then I found this book and it truly CHANGED MY LIFE. I underlined half the book, nodded in agreement, cried, and even smiled. Perhaps other books have been written since but I never found another book that spoke to all of the issues that a young widow/er faces. I have given this book to others who have suffered a similar loss and they felt the same. The Author doesn't judge and the book is not a template. It gives you the permission to grieve any way you want to and lets you know that there are a select group of people that are in the same position as you and feel the same way you do. Four years after my wifes death I still cherish this book. If you are grieving and nobody seems to understand you or know someone in this horrible position this is THE book.
Rating:
Summary: Indispensable tool for the young widow/widower!
Review: My husband died just over a year ago leaving me with 2 young children. This book has been a life saver, affirming many of the strange emotions I have experienced. Young widows are a rare breed and must deal with a different set of circumstances than older widows. It seems few people in my life have understood this, but this book has helped me to realize that I'm not so very crazy after all and that there is light at the end of the tunnel.
Rating:
Summary: worth reading
Review: My wife died of cancer in 2001. One thing I realized when reading this book was how lucky I have been to have missed most of the incredibly callous behavior and remarks that young widows and widowers often seem to be treated to (the most shocking example I found in the book was that of a young man who lost his wife and child in childbirth and was told by a well-meaning person how "lucky" he was not to have gotten "stuck" with the kid). With the exception of my in-laws, everyone I know has been very supportive and tactful, and reading this book taught me to be thankful for that.
Of course, everyone's experience is different, but I found a number of things in this book that I could identify with, and suspect that all young widows and widowers would too. One thing I'd like the author to consider adding if she writes a revised edition of this book at some point is a more extensive treatment of the problems that widows and widowers experience in new relationships. The book is primarily about coping with the early stages of grief, about how to get to the point at which one is ready for a new relationship. But it does not go beyond this point. There is a passing reference to the fears young widows and widowers have as a result of "gloom-and-doom" statistics about failed second marriages, but it would be very helpful to have some analysis of why these relationships so often fail. Understanding these problems would probably help many readers - both widows/widowers and their partners - deal with them more effectively.
Finally, a recommendation for further reading is Elisabeth Kubler-Ross's On Death and Dying. While this classic book is certainly more useful before than after a death, I think it may help many who have already suffered a bereavement to understand their own feelings as well as what spouses who died after a long illness went through.
Rating:
Summary: A great boost
Review: Reading this book helped me realize that I was "normal" where I thought I was crazy or the only one. Answers questions or at least discusses options associated with many issues which plague the young widow in a very easy to read manner (as you will know if you are in this situation, it is hard to focus).
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