3 Stars for GRIEF IS FOR PEOPLE

Sloane Crosley’s GRIEF IS FOR PEOPLE is a deeply moving and surprisingly suspenseful portrait of friendship, and a book about loss packed with verve for life. This poignant elegy is a story of love, loss, and the moments in-between. And now GRIEF IS FOR PEOPLE has received THREE starred reviews!

“In this aching meditation on loss and friendship, essayist and novelist Crosley eulogizes her late literary mentor and best friend against the backdrop of the high-pressure publishing industry. Her characteristically whip-smart prose takes on a newly introspective quality as she reinvigorates dusty publishing memoir tropes and captures the minutiae of a complicated friendship with humor and heart. This is a must-read.”—Publishers Weekly, starred review

“Crosley’s memoir is not only a joy to read, but also a respectful and philosophical work about a colleague’s recent suicide. Despite the obvious difference in the severity of robbery and suicide, Crosley fashions a sharp narrative that finds commonality in the dislocation brought on by these events. The book is no hagiography—she notes harassment complaints against Russell for thoughtlessly tossed-off comments, plus critiques of the ‘deeply antiquated and often backward’ publishing industry—but the result is a warm remembrance sure to resonate with anyone who has experienced loss. A marvelously tender memoir on suicide and loss.”—Kirkus Reviews, starred review

“In June 2019, Crosley (CULT CLASSIC, 2022) ran an errand and came home to a burglarized apartment, her jewelry cabinet ransacked. One month later to the hour, her dear friend Russell died by suicide. Novelist and essayist Crosley is a tightrope writer of devastating wit and plain devastation, a balancing act no doubt requiring even more muscle in this memoir of her grief. Also a story of the shifting sands of the last two decades in book publishing and the author’s and her friend’s changing places within it, this is a searching, impassioned, cathartic, and loving elegy.”—Booklist, starred review