I Wasn't Ready to Say Goodbye

By: Brook Noel, Pamela D. Blair Ph.D.

Narrated by: Ellen Archer

Length: 9 hrs and 21 mins

Publisher's Summary

Each year about eight million Americans suffer the death of someone close to them. Now, for those who face the challenges of sudden death, there is a hand to hold. Written by two women who have experienced sudden loss, this updated edition of the best-selling bereavement classic will touch, comfort, uplift and console. Authors Brook Noel and Pamela D. Blair, Ph.D., offer a comforting hand to hold for those who are grieving the sudden death of a loved one.

Featured on ABC World News, Friends, and many other shows, this book acts as a touchstone of sanity through difficult times. I Wasn't Ready to Say Goodbye covers such difficult topics as the first few weeks, suicide, death of a child, children and grief, funerals and rituals, physical effects, homicide and depression. With new material covering the unique circumstances of loss, men and women's grieving styles, religion and faith, myths and misunderstandings, I Wasn't Ready to Say Goodbye reflects the shifting face of grief.

This book has offered solace to over 80,000 people, ranging from seniors to teenagers and from the newly bereaved to those who lost a loved one years ago. Individuals engulfed by the immediate aftermath will find a special chapter covering the first few weeks.

Tapping their personal histories and drawing on numerous interviews, authors Brook Noel and Pamela D. Blair, Ph.D., explore unexpected death and its role in the cycle of life. I Wasn't Ready to Say Goodbye provides survivors with a rock-steady anchor from which to weather the storm of pain and begin to rebuild their lives.

©2000 Brook Noel and Pamela D. Blair, Ph.D. (P)2012 Tantor

Critic Reviews

"I highly recommend this book, not only to the bereaved, but to the friends and counselors as well." (Helen Fitzgerald, author of The Grieving Child)

Best Grief Book yet

As someone who lost a spouse way too soon, suddenly and unexpectedly, I have found this book to be the best of the five I've read or listened to so far. Start with this book, then you can go on to others.

6 of 6 people found this review helpful

All Mourners Should Read This

My son died two months ago, so I have been searching for books to help me get through the mourning process. This book is absolutely perfect. It covers all kinds of relationships with the deceased as well as all kinds of deaths which are unexpected. Though they all did not apply to me, reading about them all helped me understand the common threads throughout all the mourning experiences. This is a very cohesive book. The narrator was perfect with her voice and her nuances so that it was very enjoyable to "read". Every time I meet someone mourning my own son's death or someone else's death, I highly recommend this book.

4 of 4 people found this review helpful

The Best of the Best!!!

Would you consider the audio edition of I Wasn't Ready to Say Goodbye to be better than the print version?

Yes, because your too depressed to read.

What other book might you compare I Wasn't Ready to Say Goodbye to and why?

I have read them all and non compare.

Which scene was your favorite?

This is not A/P.

What’s an idea from the book that you will remember?

That healing will take along time.

Any additional comments?

If you have suddenly lost a loved on this is the book for you.

4 of 5 people found this review helpful

grief

this book was great in helping me understand my feelings and how to cope slowly.

Wish I had this sooner

If you could sum up I Wasn't Ready to Say Goodbye in three words, what would they be?

When you lose your spouse unexpectedly you have no idea what to do. You are in shock for several months, running on autopilot, and you don't even know it.
This book has such good information on the step by step process of grieving and lets you know you are normal. It gives you the what to do's and the what not to do's. It even has a whole section dedicated to how your friends and family help and what they should expect that she recommends you give to them to listen.
This book was so helpful. Please spread the word.

Who was your favorite character and why?

n/a

What did you like about the performance? What did you dislike?

well delivered

Did you have an extreme reaction to this book? Did it make you laugh or cry?

cry

Any additional comments?

All newly widows should listen to this book.

great book

my friend lost his mother tragically and was having a rough time coping. i looked up several books that might help him see he wasn't alone. If he could hear of others with similar situations, maybe it will rest his heart a little. I purchased the audio version because I wasn't sure if he was a book reader. He immediately started listening to the book and finished it quickly. He called me, telling me he couldn't stop listening. The book was exactly what he was feeling and thinking. He felt more at peace and knew he wasn't alone in his grief. He couldn't thank me enough for finding this book.

Great book!

I think this book was very useful , full of invaluable information about grieveng. After losing my fiance (we had been Roger her 20 years), it helped me better understand grief.

Great book and reader!!

I really liked the book and it's message. It helped me to understand myself and what im going through better.

Not for Everybody

I found nothing in this book that I didn't already know, but appreciated the authors' heartfelt attempts to be consoling and practical. Written on an eighth-grade reading level, it will contain cognitive therapy insights only for the unsophisticated, and not much for the unspeakable agony of an educated survivor. Such folk should stick with Joyce Carol Oates and Joan Didion. The performance leaves something to be desired, too, because the reader mispronounces words repeatedly, such as "et cetera," not a real challenge, as "ek cetera." Some of the quoted authors have their names mispronounced as well.

But the worst aspect of this book is that gay survivors simply do not exist for these authors. The unique problems that beset us get not even a token mention. And we are likely to be among the most devastated, because of the lack of family and legal protections. If the authors do a third edition, perhaps they will give us the dignity of not being invisible in yet another way.

5 of 15 people found this review helpful