Top positive review
5.0 out of 5 starsA Gentle Salve for Raw Grief
Reviewed in the United States on January 13, 2012
After suddenly and unexpectedly losing my dear golden retriever within 24 hours of an illness that struck him, I was lost in a pit of dark despair and physically painful grief. I did not want to eat, work, or deal with anything. In desperation I searched for some books on pet loss and downloaded a few to my Kindle, one of which was Bill at Rainbow Bridge.
When I opened it and began reading the first chapter, I closed it again with dismay. "I'm not looking for a child's book; What is this?" I thought to myself. I went on to some of the other books, but they felt so clinical, so dry. Not only that, but in the grief-stricken haze of my mind, I felt I just could not absorb what they were saying. There were words, and they just did not seem to sink in.
After finishing one book and trying another, and still feeling no ease in my pain, I opened up Bill at Rainbow Bridge again. I began reading, and this time I seemed to absorb the words. I could see the images in my mind, I could relate to David, Bill's human guardian, and what he was going through. His feelings of confusion, his inability to move on, his desperate need to find relief. The storybook quality was exactly what I needed to sink into my distraught mind and heart. Its beautiful simplicity and honesty finally reached me where the more "clinical" and explanatory style books simply did not connect.
I feel now this is the first book one should reach for when they are in those raw depths of grief, where you feel like a lost child and all the "logical explanations" for what you are going through do nothing to comfort you. Bill at Rainbow Bridge gives peace, gives you finally a sigh of relief and puts a salve on your hurt.