Falling Out of Time (Vintage International)

Grief isn't linear. It circles around and around, but never really gets anywhere. I don't know if this is what David Grossman meant to convey with the events described in his book, Falling Out of Time, but I think so. I think so because I know that David Grossman knows grief - not knows about - but knows in his bones through painful experience.I can understand that the form of this book (I hesitate to call it a novel, because it could just as easily be described as poetry, play, myth, fairy tale...) will put some people off. But it made sense to me, because it is a remarkably emotionally truthful depiction of grief, The spare structure enhances the message.There are so many ways to lose, but this is a book specifically about parents dealing with the death of their children. If you've had that experience, you will recognize yourself, your emotions and reactions in the pages of David Grossman's book: shock, denial, anger, desperation, guilt, bargaining, acceptance... It's all there, excruciatingly beautifully described: Midwife: Dear God, such pain cuts suddenly deep down in my stomach, my girl - if only I knew that th-th-there, too, when you arrived, when you finished dying, you were welcomed with loving arms and a warm, fragrant t-t-towel, and someone, or something, in whose bosom you found peace in those first moments.I think one of the greatest sources of comfort is knowing that you are understood. That you do not walk this terrible road alone. A book like Falling Out of Time can bring you some peace.

This book is written in a unique style, part drama, part poetry, about a cast of bereaved parents, groping to find a sense of where their children have gone and where they themselves are now. Deep, mysterious, and haunting.

Exceptional book about grieving the loss of a child. Beautifully written by David Grossman who lost his 20 20-year old son when his tank was hit by a middle in Lebanon. "David Grossman is one of the nation’s most prominent writers and peace advocates."

If you enjoy poetry, playwrights, and literature that will spark something in your heart to feel into lost, blocked spaces, I recommend this to you. You will fall and rise in a dance with his words.

The book embodies the experience of profound grief. The shifts from archetypal reality--the dream-like state of inner chanting and keening--into navigating through the outer world--are both lulling and exhausting.It's reminiscent of the trance imposed by a Classical Greek tragedy. The characters shift from their unique stories into becoming anonymous members of a chorus--then back to their individual characters. I found it reminiscent of the work of TS Eliot.Not an easy read, but one that captures the nature of grief as few works have done. I'll be surprised if it doesn't show up as a theatre production at some point.

Another D. Grossman work expressing thoughts related to death. The convoluted and complicated interplay between poetry and prose is stimulating. This reader had comprehension difficulties and is not certain how to apportion the blame: on the reader or the author.

This astounding book conveys Grossman's "felt sense" of the process through which grieving parents must confront loss, if they are to become even close to whole once again.

While I think that the book may be able to reach some people who are into a more poetic style of writing, it failed to reach me in the way I would have liked. To be fair, I went into the book with an expectation to get some perspective on death and dying, and I may have been looking for something different than the book was offering.The style is too halting and choppy for my taste---you go from a poetic style of writing to a more story-telling style of writing every other page. I prefer a book that is more consistent, stylistically.

The best book I have read since my son died three years ago. Grossman is a master of metaphor. He knows about a parents grief inside out - its complicated and simple both at the have all been stripped away. When the man decides to go there, there is of course no 'there' and his wife knows that if he goes he will not come back - all bereaved parents will have expressed this desire to see their child just one more time and most will have contemplated suicide as the means to that end. Grossman explores the horror and the ultimate impossibility of such thoughts with huge imagination - grotesque in parts, certainly otherworldly but always grounded in real emotion. Written as a long form poem and presented as a stage script Falling out of Time has echoes of both Shakepeare and Beckett and will be read as such. But it is no less original for that.When my son died - time did indeed stop. And I have been going round in circles ever since. I am now more ready to accept this as my own fate.

Set in a nameless village, this is a harrowing account of a group of grief-stricken parents mourning the death of their children. Written in very short sentences, the novel takes the form of a long poem of mourning. The sparse use of language and visceral flow of words captures the horror of parental loss in a way I have rarely seen. Each page gauges your emotions and you reach the end feeling emotionally utterly drained for you too have vicariously experienced this unbearable loss.

I bought this without realising that it was written as verse with narrative interspersed so at first I was taken aback, thinking I wouldn't have bought this if I'd known... but gradually I was taken over by the power of the words, the rhythms, the sounds in my head, the emotions. So many passages were memorable - I will read it again, it gives a comfort that I think we all need.

Most unusual and a book that touches on so many depths. If you are finding your way through loss; work with bereaved; simply want to read something different, then I highly recommend this book.

Very moving especially after reading 'To the End of the Land'. A short read that is personal and deeply felt.