“The most valuable book I’ve read on the complex issues of loss and grief. This book provides valuable insights for anyone who is grieving a loss, be that a spouse, child, sibling or close friend. Of all the books I have read on the topic, this one resonated most with me and provided much comfort during my darkest hours.”
– Anonymous
“Exceptional reading. A friend sent this book to me while I was enduring the most painful experience of my life. I remember being extremely rude and offended when she told me she was sending me a book. My words, “A book will not help me in this,” did not stop her, and it arrived several days later. As I began to read this book, I found myself consoled by words that seemed to understand the excruciating pain, the confusion, the anger. It approaches the topic of death with sensitivity from different perspectives, and helps one to understand how to transcend your loss through giving. It has been 13 years since I buried my son, and my first reading of this book. It truly helped me to process, and helped me to understand how I could somehow move beyond that horribly dark place. It is the only book I can recommend to those who suffer from an abrupt loss, and are seeking to find ways to climbing out of the abyss of pain that comes with it.”
– Anonymous
“Keep coming back to it… As I move through the grieving experience in my life – as the years go by since the loss of my daughter – I find myself coming back to this book and rereading sections. It’s a huge help.”
– Anonymous
“Great book, very helpful. After losing my dad, a friend lent this book to me. Immediately I connected with it’s message “Death doesn’t end the relationship, it simply forges a new type of relationship – one based not on physical presence but on memory, spirit, and love. I purchased 6 copies to give to family members and they have all said how much it’s helped them understand the grieving process, how what they are feeling isn’t abnormal, and that it’s ok to feel and think anything that comes to you because it’s all part of the process. I absolutely recommend this book to anyone who’s ever lost a love one or friend.”
– T. Orlick
“Book Transcending Loss is excellent. Tragic loss and grief alter the human mind and spirit. This book is a must-read early on in the grief process because it helps you understand exactly what you are going through. Written in a clear, simple, caring but honest voice – it encourages you to go through your own process at your own pace. It acknowledges the truth that your life has now changed forever, but reveals there are several ways to go with stages that follow the immediate pain and grief of loss. It helps you better understand, and transcend, what happens to us when our hearts are ripped apart. It helps you learn to love that scar that remains for life. It’s a reminder that the depth of the love is the depth of the grief – but grief also prompts you to reorganize your life and forge your loss into a “new” relationship with your loved one in the form of memories that allow them to live in your heart and continue to nourish you. So glad I read it – and I continue to refer to it as I continue to seek my own healing and become better at understanding how my beloved sister is still with me at all times.”
– “Little Sis”
“Best book for my situation. When my two month old son died, I read many books to try to help me. This one was given to my by a good friend who lost her husband to heart attack without warning. It was the best book out of all of them that I read and I have given it to many people who I know are in need of help after their loss.”
– V. Collins
“Superb. This book has been more helpful than any other that I’ve read since the death of my husband of 38 years almost three months ago.
I’ve also found “A Time to Grieve” by Carol Staudacher very useful, with meditations every day for healing after the loss of a loved one.”
– T. Wellesley
“A must read for someone grieving. Victoria, my wife of 17 years died suddenly 3 months ago, needless to say it was so devastating, I have never experienced anything like this in my whole life; anger, shock, confusion, a pain so intense that it was terrifying. This book helped me so much in understanding my grief, it pointed the way for me to start coming up from the depths of my despair. The author has done a wonderful work. There are other fine books, but this one did it for me.”
– F. Burgiaga
“Helpful and hopeful without being trite. Along the lines of “When Bad Things Happen to Good People,” this book can really helpful in allowing you work through your grief in a positive, healthy way. I have experienced a great deal of loss in my life (parent, sister, husband) and — at 34 years old — am not one to swallow trite explanations like “everything happens for a reason.” This book doesn’t try to do that, but it does try to help you figure out how to go on with the rest of your life and find joy. I would recommend it to anyone who is suffering a loss. It would make a very meaningful gift, as well.”
– M. Clipton
“A beautifully written book about coping with loss. Ashley Prend has written a sensitive and well organized book that is good for clinicians and those coping with loss. Her clear delineation of the stages of grief and the hope she holds out that one can get through the stuck places and make loss meaningful stand out. She writes well and the structure of the book makes it easy to read. The message that one does not need to ‘get over’ one’s loss is an important one as is her SOAR solution for integrating the loss in one’s life so that one can ‘get on with’ life.”
– A. Melvin
“A practical book that dignifies grief’s lifelong process. Ashley Davis Prend makes a bold move to help people struggling with grief. No other authority has touched on the concept of how grief is processed for a life-time more comprehensively. Prend makes clear the fact that our quality of living is dramatically changed with each loss. She also points out that each of us make an individual choice in whether we use grief to resign from life or use it to design our life. In this book you will find useful information on how to deal with the early stages of loss, (acute grief) to how to reinvest in new ways of living that are meaningful and joyful. The only missing ingredient that I see is how to motivate grieving people to envision that possibility. Prend touches the holistic concepts of body, mind, and spirit with her SOAR concepts. Many will find these practical ideas enough to help them make their transition from the negative aspects of grief and to transcend its hold to a positive way of new found joy. The motivational aspect, which is a most critical first step, becomes a very minor omittance. Prend’s book will be a cornerstone for a new type of grief therapy that provides honest, accurate, and truthful answers for all of us who suffer loss and for those who care for them. Prend’s book is superb.”
– Anonymous
