Michael
What I’d Rather Not Think About centers around a brother’s suicide and the emotional aftermath for his sister, who happens to be his twin. This is a deeply melancholy book told in very short vignettes-some only half a page long and the longest no more than two pages. There is a certain emotionless quality to the novel that somehow makes it even more melancholy. As the back of the book says “Posthuma tells the story oof a depressive brother, viewed from the perspective of the sister who both loves and resents her twin, struggles to understand him, and misses him terribly.” I would add that she does miss him terribly, but to me at least there is something pathological in how much she misses him and for how long she acts in a slightly strange way. (she is presented as seeing a therapist, so we don’t know if she too has some emotional scars from before the time of the suicide.)
In full disclosure I would add that I have never had someone close to me commit suicide so I have no idea how I would respond. I only know that there is no “right” response.
Anyway, this is a sad, deeply human story about real people and real grief. There are no easy answers.
Anyone triggered by suicide should not read this book. Everyone else should read it.
What I’d Rather Not Think About centers around a brother’s suicide and the emotional aftermath for his sister, who happens to be his twin. This is a deeply melancholy book told in very short vignettes-some only half a page long and the longest no more than two pages. There is a certain emotionless quality to the novel that somehow makes it even more melancholy. As the back of the book says “Posthuma tells the story oof a depressive brother, viewed from the perspective of the sister who both loves and resents her twin, struggles to understand him, and misses him terribly.” I would add that she does miss him terribly, but to me at least there is something pathological in how much she misses him and for how long she acts in a slightly strange way. (she is presented as seeing a therapist, so we don’t know if she too has some emotional scars from before the time of the suicide.)
In full disclosure I would add that I have never had someone close to me commit suicide so I have no idea how I would respond. I only know that there is no “right” response.
Anyway, this is a sad, deeply human story about real people and real grief. There are no easy answers.
Anyone triggered by suicide should not read this book. Everyone else should read it.