Modern Loss

Candid Conversation About Grief. Beginners Welcome.

By: Rebecca Soffer, Gabrielle Birkner

Narrated by: Meredith Mitchell, Josh Bloomberg

Inspired by the website that the New York Times hailed as ""redefining mourning,"" this book is a fresh and irreverent examination into navigating grief and resilience in the age of social media, offering comfort and community for coping with the mess of loss through candid original essays from a variety of voices.

At a time when we mourn public figures and national tragedies with hashtags, where intimate posts about loss go viral and we receive automated birthday reminders for dead friends, it’s clear we are navigating new terrain without a road map.

Let’s face it: most of us have always had a difficult time talking about death and sharing our grief. We’re awkward and uncertain; we avoid, ignore, or even deny feelings of sadness; we offer platitudes; we send sympathy bouquets whittled out of fruit.

Enter Rebecca Soffer and Gabrielle Birkner, who can help us do better. Each having lost parents as young adults, they co-founded Modern Loss, responding to a need to change the dialogue around the messy experience of grief. Now, in this wise and often funny book, they offer the insights of the Modern Loss community to help us cry, laugh, grieve, identify, and—above all—empathize.

Soffer and Birkner, along with forty guest contributors including Lucy Kalanithi, singer Amanda Palmer, and CNN’s Brian Stelter, reveal their own stories on a wide range of topics including triggers, sex, secrets, and inheritance. Each contribution provides a unique perspective on loss as well as a remarkable life-affirming message.

Brutally honest and inspiring, Modern Loss invites us to talk intimately and humorously about grief, helping us confront the humanity (and mortality) we all share. Beginners welcome.

Not What I Was Expecting

I didn't do a lot of research before I bought this book, so I was expecting something different than a series of short essays by various people (some included because they're famous or close to a famous person) on various aspects of loss, some only tangentially related to the death of a loved one. I could imagine that at a different period of my life, this book would have been useful, but at the moment it didn't resonate.

most helpful

thank you. your stories were a balm to my sad heart. I'm not alone on this path.

Poweful Stories

I love that everyone honestly expressed the good, bad, and ugly when it comes to loss and grieving. Excellent narration.