What do readers think of Ten Minutes from Home by Beth Greenfield? Write your own review.

TEN MINUTES FROM HOME, by Beth Greenfield, is a touching memoir about her teenage years after a horrifying accident that killed both her little brother and best friend. Life from then on was of immense grief compounded by her inability to share her feelings with her parents, particularly her mother. This is a poignant story of an adolescent who is able to reach beyond her grief to understand her parents and to become the successful woman she is today.

Thank-you Beth for shining a light on a dark corner of our society. When a parent loses a child, they seem to receive an endless amount of support but who is there to support a child who loses a sibling and a best friend, and whose parents are immersed in their own grief. Alone, these children are left to emotionally cope as best they can. Beth must deal with the self-blame, the survivor guilt, the label of "the girl whose brother died" and she recounts her experiences with a brutal honesty that makes the reader cringe. For someone who seldom reads memoirs, I found this one to be compelling.

Beth Greenfield has written a touching memoir dealing mainly with the years surrounding a tragic accident. She uses clear, concise language and a matter of fact recounting of events to tell her story. Although heartbreaking at times, it presents an honest look at the grieving and healing process. Her honesty in telling her story makes for a very good read, and I think it would appeal to all readers!

This well written memoir documents the author's grief, pain, guilt, anger and loss. The anguish involved drips off the pages as do the readers tears. A car accident kills a brother along with a best friend. Because of this a mother, father and the author are all changed forever too. I do not know if reading this book will help others. But the stark reality of this book and the insights it brings to all of us who know very little about the losing a loved one is very powerful. The last paragraph in the book is perhaps the saddest in the book but it projects hope for the future.

Most people are drawn to stories of human tragedy and survival. But it isn’t just morbidness that makes us want to know the details; we want to understand both the nature of the event, and how an average person can experience the unthinkable and make it out the other side. After Beth Greenfield lived through a terrible car accident, her peers weren’t shy about asking penetrating questions: “Did you see the other car coming?” What were Kristin’s last words?” “Was it very bloody?” Greenfield answers these questions and more in a brutally honest account of the accident and the painful year that followed. While the narrative is sometimes jumpy, and the ending is both rushed and artificially hopeful (at a point where it seems the family is still struggling), this heartbreaking memoir is captivating and worthwhile, and would make an interesting choice for discussion groups.

This memoir is only the beginning of the process for this writer and should rightfully be part one of a longer publication. Most of the book deals with the weeks and months after the author loses her brother and best friend and only the last part deals with her life several years later. How she got from a wild and angry teenager to the 40 year old she is today would have made more interesting reading. There is much more of the story to be told and I wanted to hear it.