BOOKS FROM GREENLANDWhen Death Takes Something from You, Give It Back
Tags:
Set in Denmark
Female author
Description:
In March 2015, Naja Marie Aidt's son Carl died at twenty-five years old in a tragic accident.When Death Takes Something from You, Give It Back describes the first year after that devastating phone call. It is at once a sober account of life after losing a child--showing how grief transforms one's relationship to reality, loved ones, and time--and an exploration of the language of poetry, loss, and love. Faced with the sudden emptiness of language, Aidt finds solace in the anguish of Joan Didion, Nick Cave, C.S. Lewis, Emily Dickinson, Walt Whitman, and other writers who have suffered the deadening impact of loss. Their torment suffuses with her own as Aidt wrestles with words and contests their capacity to speak for the depths of her sorrow. Intensely moving and quietly devastating,When Death Takes Something from You, Give It Back explores what is it to be a family, what it is to love and lose, and what it is to treasure life in spite of death's indomitable resolve.
Reviews:
(3 months ago) |
20 Jun, 2025
This book is accurately described as “An unflinchingly raw and lyrical exploration of a mother’s grief and how it transforms her relationship to time, reality, and language.” The author very clearly demonstrates via writing style key aspects of her grief (re-examining past interactions, repetitive images and dialogues replaying in the mind, etc) and the emotion of incomprehensible loss is masterfully conveyed. So why did I only give it two stars? Partly because I’m not a fan of most poetry (excluding Plath and Rimbaud). Poetry by the author as well as by numerous others makes up a large part of this book. There are also too many quotes by other writers (mostly well recognized writers). I like the idea that these quotes demonstrate a loss for words or one’s inability to find one’s own words to describe grief but there are so many that it feels less like the authors own work and more like a collection of other people’s work. This book reads like a journal or scrapbook made while someone is trying to work through their grief, which is a completely valid and worthwhile thing to create, but it may not be worthy of publication.
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