Narrated by Eileen Stevens. Love and appreciate and adore your pets, and when it's time for them to say goodbye, grieve and remember and honor them in whatever way works for you, for however long you need. A lovely and informative work that covers pet death history and acknowledges the hard emotions of pet loss. Stevens narrates with compassion and light. Have tissues handy for those stories of pet loyalty and loss. ( )

E.B. Bartels gives us this collection of stories sharing some of the most important events in people's lives. All people have a relationship with animals. Whether they are in their homes or in nature. Each chapter will share the effects of seeing animals die, either falling out of a fishbowl or witnessing a cat being run down by a car. We experience grief. Bartels offers a positive approach by creating relationships with the animals as if one word characterizes an animal's importance to carry us through. We expect changes in good ways. Good Grief gives us the reality of suffering animals' fate, yet we can reflect on passing through sharing.

Though our experiences with pets happen in their presence, we express our dearest remembrances after their passing. Good Grief will help people realize the natural events of living and dying outside the human realm. The ideas present subjectivity and forge a relationship with a positive theme.


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Good Grief: On Loving Pets, Here and Hereafter, by EB Bartels, is a phenomenal work that every pet owner should read. It is informative and educational, but more important is that all of that information is for the mental AND emotional well-being of the reader/pet owner.

I am, like many pet lovers, a hard griever. Almost all of the things in this book Bartels is trying to get us to understand and cope with I have experienced: guilt, blame, sadness, anger, everything. This book didn't just make me better understand what I can do for my pets but also what I need to do for myself as well.

I saw the comparisons with Caitlin Doughty and I think they are accurate. How we honor our pets in the moment as well as how we honor and remember them going forward is important, yet just as important is our understanding that what is right for me might not be right for you. And there is nothing wrong with that. Like a couple she interviews in the book, I have a shelf with ashes, toys, collars, photos, etc. I know people who simply can't do that, they have their own ways of memorializing their pets. I probably talk to that shelf as much as I talk to my current pets, and definitely more than I talk to other humans!

If this review seems to be as much about me as it is the book, that illustrates the strength of the book. You will personalize what this book offers you. While you tear up over some stories, and learn a lot of interesting information, you will also be looking back at your former pets, forward at your current and future pets, and most assuredly at yourself, the thread that connects all of them. You will likely relive some sad moments but you will come away from it with a better understanding and a lot less guilt.

I highly recommend this for any pet owner, past, present, or future. Like so many who own multiple pets, one of mine is enjoying her last days. I have to pick her up because she can't walk well, I have to express her bladder most of the time, but she is alert, attentive, still pays attention to everything around her, and still offers her sly grin. I am doing my best, she knows it, and this book has helped me to enjoy these moments with less guilt.

Reviewed from a copy made available by the publisher via NetGalley. ( )