I think I shared the same reaction that I am glad that my experience of grieving for my Dad was not like Helen's. Like bethb, the book made me feel thankful for the closeness of my family. But all through the book there are phrases that really resonated for me and perhaps Helen's extreme grieving process is what allowed her to find the words for things we all feel, but don't have the words for. For example:
"I feel hollow and unhoused, an airy, empty wasps' nest, a thing made of chewed paper after the frosts have murdered the life within." p130
"There is a time in life when you expect the world to be always full of new things. And then comes a day when you realise that is not how it will be at all. You see that life will become a thing full of holes. Absenses. Losses. Things that were there and are no longer. And you realise, too, that you have to grow around and between the gaps, though you can put your hand out to where things were and feel that tense, shining dullness of the space where the memories are." p171