Book Review: Rare Bird by Anna Whiston-Donaldson

When I received an email from BloggingForBooks.com asking for people to review this book, even waiving the 'one book at a time' rule, I jumped at the opportunity. I am fascinated by books about life after death and messages from beyond, so it was right up my alley. I have read many many books about grief, but the honesty with which this was written was unlike anything I had read before.

Anna is brutally honest about what she was feeling in the days, weeks and months after losing her son Jack in a flash flood in early September, 2011. She wanted to convey what a special child he was, without making him out to be a saint. She accomplished that feat with a grace that is hard to find in most people, but remarkable in a woman who had just had a part of her ripped away forever. Many people would have tried to sugar coat their grief for the benefit of others, but she recognized that she needed to tell it as it really was in order to help other people struggling with a tragic loss. She admitted to not wanting to push or intrude into a grieving family's loss before she suffered her own. As she saw the way one neighbor would dutifully refill the cooler with ice every day that held meals prepared by others, she realized that there were times she could have done more.

In reading her story, it makes one think of what could be done to help ease the pain of grief for another, regardless of how close you are to the person. Anna was surprised that the friends who were on the fringe were more present in her grief than friends she had been close to forever. This is a huge lesson for all of us who don't know what to do for grieving friends. If you think you are overstepping, you are not. Just do something. As hard as it was for Anna and her family to be 'the family who lost a child', having all eyes on them all the time, it would have been harder to have people stop. As people went on with their lives she assumed they would forget. Not to give away the ending, but they did not forget Jack.

Families can be torn apart after a loss, since each has their way of coping. This family was no different and I am certain this book will help other families dealing with a loss of this magnitude. There were so many ways things could have gone wrong, but they held it together. Their faith in God was tested often, but still remained intact, if not stronger.

I would recommend this to anyone who has lost someone close to them, or anyone who needs to hear about some of the ways God sends us signs as long as we know where to look. the things that happened to Anna to let her know her son was in a good place were nothing short of amazing.


I received this book in exchange for an honest review from bloggingforbooks.com.