When Claire Bidwell Smith was 14, both of her parents were diagnosed with cancer. Her mother died when she was 18, her father when she was 24. This direct and unflinching memoir is Claire's account of how she coped (or didn't cope): alcohol, tattoos, escapist travel, dark romantic relationships, danger. And a lot of loneliness.
Structured according to Elisabeth Kübler-Ross's five stages of grief denial, anger, bargaining, depression, acceptance Bidwell Smith tells her story according to emotions rather than time. The narrative is thus non-linear, dotting from carefree college days in Vermont far away from her parents' home, and an internship in partying for the LA office of "Big Fancy Magazine" to abortion operation rooms and diving with sharks in a remote part of the Philippines. As well, there is the long-term relationship with a jealous man accused of stabbing his sister to death ("I'll never again be able to shake the tiny seed of doubt about his innocence").
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