With each new installment of The Healing Shelf, we invite you to return to the pages that hold space for grief in all its forms. This series highlights books that speak honestly about loss, offering words that many grieving hearts may struggle to find themselves. Through shared reflections and thoughtful reviews, we hope these stories bring comfort and become invaluable resources for our families who face the unimaginable and unexpected loss of a child.
Gina Kornfeind, the writer of this month’s book review, is a social worker that currently serves as the Community Outreach & Training Manager for Good Grief in Princeton, NJ. She has been an invaluable part of the Buzzy’s Bees community serving as an advisory board member, supporting our Give Grief a Voice program, and sharing her deep knowledge and experience in bereavement, grief, and family advocacy. We thank Gina for taking the time to review Normal Broken by Kelly Cervantes for our grieving families and readers.
Normal Broken is a grief companion book that offers a non-prescriptive, empathic guide for those navigating loss, written from the author’s personal experience of losing her daughter, Adelaide, to epilepsy. It validates the non-linear nature of grief, provides support within each chapter’s theme, and then includes helpful journaling prompts at the end of every chapter.
One of the most important aspects of Normal Broken is that each chapter is relatively short and is digestible for the grieving brain. There is a beautiful mixture of stories, anecdotes related to both Child Loss and other losses, and reminders that grief is unique. Kelly emphasizes the importance of allowing oneself as a griever to be where and how they need to be each day, each hour and the patience and support needed to support this unthinkable loss. To read and witness Kelly and her family’s journey (she addresses parenting surviving children, the marriage, extended family and work as well), one receives both validation and hope throughout the struggle to endure the unimaginable.
Kelly’s style of writing is conversational and extremely relatable. One feels like they are sitting with Kelly in each chapter as she shares deeply, without judgment and vulnerability. She speaks the truth, does not sugar coat and also gives hope for finding joy within life again.
This quote gives readers a taste of the style and tone of the book: “How dare I heal when my daughter never could? All of these thoughts and feelings combined to create an acrimonious aversion to healing. That is, until I heard five words that forever changed the trajectory of my healing journey–TO HEAL WE MUST REMEMBER.”
The ideal reader for Normal Broken would be parents who have had a baby or child die, as well as grief support group facilitators, and also friends/family of a parent who is grieving the death of a child.
Star Rating: ⭐⭐⭐⭐
If you would like to purchase this book, please consider doing so through our Bookshop.org profile. Buzzy’s will receive a small portion of the proceeds. https://bookshop.org/a/112552/9781637743829