Smashbomb

Search

Search results

All (1680)

Content

Dana (24 KP) rated Gabriel: A Poem in Books

Mar 23, 2018

This poem was extremely sad to read. It is about a boy who died and the father who is mourning over the loss.

The boy, Gabriel, had many illnesses and was often overlooked in society. Since they were not illnesses one could see, he was not treated the way another ill person may be: in a way to help them rather than just write them off.

I enjoyed this poem, for the most part. It was heartbreaking to see the decline in the relationship between the father and son.

This is definitely a poem about mourning, but more than that, it shows the helplessness of beign trapped in that mourning. There is a sense of immortality for a parent when a child dies. It is not something that, naturally, should happen, yet it does. Hirsch brings in allusions to other famous people who have lost their children, and attempts to deal with the grief by looking to an example.

In the last few stanzas, there is the disbelief that comes with the loss of your child. It is as if you will see them in just a few moments. Like they will walk through the door and not actually be gone. Hirsch does an excellent job capturing this grief in the little moments. Like when the speaker is driving down the street and expects to see Gabriel reading a menu at some restaurant. Or at the funeral itself, where there should be a note of finality, it is left open because of the expected return.

I really enjoyed this book. I think if you, or someone you know, has been going through mourning, it may help to pick up this poem to know that you are not alone in your grief. That other people are going through the same thing.

Kudos

Michael Rosen's Sad Book

Quentin Blake and Michael Rosen

(0 Ratings) Rate It

Book

A heartbreakingly honest account of a father's grief for his son from the illustrious pairing of two...

Awix (3310 KP) rated The Farewell (2019) in Movies

Oct 2, 2019

The Farewell (2019)

2019 | Comedy, Drama

8.9

(7 Ratings)

Movie Rating

Faintly oddball comedy-drama successfully pulls off that trick of looking like being about one thing but actually covering lots of ground. Chinese matriarch is found to have terminal cancer; in accordance with local tradition the family keep her in the dark about this but organise a fake wedding as an excuse to get together one last time. New York-based scion of the family Awkwafina, grand-daughter of the dying woman, is very doubtful of the ethicality of this.

You expect a film about grief, and to some extent this is one, although it's really a chronicle of grief foretold, as the characters anticipate a loss to come. It's also about cultural differences, family life, and the way in which people routinely tell lies to each other every single day simply in order to keep life livable. The film skates along over the top of all this and treats it all with a light and delicate touch. Not an absolute tear-jerker, I thought, but there are some very touching moments (then again, I may be emotionally atrophied, who knows). Not a huge amount actually happens but the film has clearly been made with intelligence and skill.

Kudos

Charlotte (209 KP) rated The Princess Saves Herself in This One in Books

Jan 21, 2018

the poems on grief are stunning, heartfelt and heartbreaking: they have real resonance & are definitely what i'll take away from reading this book (3 more)

some beautiful concepts

structural experimentation (although some elements are overused)

sweet & reassuring in places

i don't know if i've read too many poems of this style but some of the poems in this collection felt a little unoriginal or repetitive (1 more)

i should have read this book when i was younger: i feel like it would have a much larger impact on a slightly younger audience, maybe 15-17 year girls

Kudos

Mat (5 KP) rated Hereditary (2018) in Movies

Jun 18, 2018

Hereditary (2018)

2018 | Drama, Horror, Mystery

6.9

(64 Ratings)

Movie Rating Watch

Genuine scares (1 more)

Tension builds throughout film

The ending (0 more)

Let down by the ending

This started as a really interesting look at a dysfunctional family dealing with grief, with the story driven by the characters, rather than by the scares. Unfortunately the last 10 minutes completely changes things, by going into WTF territory. It felt like the writers couldn’t come up with an ending to do the rest of the film justice, so decided to “shock” and confuse the audience instead. This was a shame, as the rest of the film was rather good.

Kudos

KarenRC (6 KP) rated The Curious Heart of Ailsa Rae in Books

Jul 23, 2018

This book is an enjoyable, 'heart'- warming story about dealing with learning to live a 'normal' life after not knowing whether you were going to have a life at all. It also touches on the very important subject of organ donation being opt-out instead of opt-in, which is a very important cause. All in all, an easy read that covers all bases - family, love, friendships, health, grief. I found the back and forth between past, future, blog, news reports a bit confusong at times, but not enough to detract from the book.