I recently saw a movie that got me thinking about what happens before someone gets tragic news.
In the movie as in real life, the tragedy often interrupts an otherwise average day. Sometimes, you find out in the evening that something happened in the morning and you’ve just spent your whole day oblivious to the fact that your world was crashing down while your head was turned. Maybe it was even a good day, and from then on, you’ll have a fleeting distrust of days that feel too good just in case something bad is lurking around the corner. (Stephanie Wittels Wachs talks about this a lot in Everything is Horrible and Wonderful.)
In quiet moments in later years, maybe you’ll feel guilt in the deepest parts of your heart – the awful knowledge that you continued on with your day, blissfully unaware that the people around you had an entire 8 or 10 or 12 hours of additional suffering.
So what do you do when you’re late to a tragedy?
Jayson Greene’s book is a tribute to his daughter Greta, killed at the age of two when a brick fell on her head. Neither he nor his wife were with Greta at the time – she was with her grandmother when it happened. They were late to their own deepest tragedy – and yet, the catching up overwhelms the actual incident.
The book is a testament to the fact that sometimes the most beautiful things can be the most devastating. Greene’s style of storytelling is open and honest – both about what he knows to be true and what he can’t quite recall. You’re let into the deepest and darkest parts of his life. We’re on the journey together.
Something I struggle with – broadly – is the idea that we can’t know what comes next. That bad thing that might be around the corner on a very good day – I don’t know how to prepare for it. I don’t have a crystal ball to tell me that I’ll be okay, that my decisions are validated and that everyone will be happy and healthy. I have a hard time with that.
So it’s lovely, in a way, to get to see some form of an after here. Of course, the Greenes are still living their presents and futures. But you get glimmers of a happy ending. I won’t spoil anything here – but you’ll be happy to see where they end up. What a beautiful tribute to a beautiful person.
You’ll like this if: you want to read a completely immersive tribute to a life by someone who loved that life the most. You won’t be able to put it down.
Happy reading!
Other Suggested Content:
– Book excerpt from The Cut
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