The Rules of Inheritance

Leave it to the Blogher Book Club to send along another book that refused to let me put it down until I finished.  While forcing me to periodically weep. This month's book, The Rules of Inheritance by Claire Bidwell Smith, is a memoir of Claire's young life with two parents diagnosed with terminal cancer.  I admit, I expected this book to be incredibly depressing, as I typically don't like to think, read, or discuss anything along these lines.  But Bidwell Smith was able to tell her story poignantly and gracefully, and rather than feeling incredibly sad while reading (okay, there were incredibly sad moments), I was able to come out the other end feeling closure, as the author was also able to do.

Bidwell Smith structured her narrative following the five stages of grief.  Rather than chronologically telling her story, she arranged small vignettes around the type of grief she was feeling during each time period.  A thought that reverberated throughout the story, and through the author's grief, was that after both her parents died, Claire, in her early twenties, was no one's special person.  She was completely alone.  And she was terrified.  And I was terrified for her.  And terrified a little bit for me too.  The thought of being no one's special person made me really, really appreciate that throughout my life, I have had those special people who cared for me.  And at the end of the story, Claire has found those special people again too.

If you are looking for an interesting memoir, learn more about The Rules of Inheritance here: http://www.blogher.com/bookclub/now-reading-rules-inheritance

Full disclosure: Indeed, I was compensated for this BlogHer Book Club review but you know me, and all opinions expressed here are my own.  I wouldn't tell you that I like something if I don't!  And you all know how I love a good read that makes me weepy, no matter how much I complain.