Book Review: in between

Book report on the book in between by Natasa Dragnic

This book is about grief and how different people handle it differently. The book begins with Bridgett Weichmann at a grief support group. She doesn’t really want to be there and has been to many grief support groups in various cities in France, this one is in Dijon. She has lived in France for a year, since the death of her only son Michael. She left her country, her home and her husband, Hans, and no one knows where she is.

In her mind she feels the grief support groups did not affect her much. However, she remembers the various things people spoke of losing, some minor like material possesions. Some more basic like pets and family members. She just listens but doesn’t share her secret; she cannot say the name Michael out loud. She tends to have habits that keep her grounded, from when she first learned she was pregnant with Michael. She counts all her steps in her mind, and she constantly rubs on her skirt and shirt trying to erase wrinkles that are not really there. But she will never cry, never has and never will. Hans cried when they learned Michael was dead.

At this particular group she sees a young man who reminds her of Michael. He doesn’t really want to be there either, so they both leave together. His name is Christian Rolland and he owns a book store. She follows him to his book store and just sits and watches. They grow closer and closer and see each other day after day, and she even decides to rent an apartment in the city.

Christian is grieving because his wife Sylvie divorced him. He too doesn’t say her name out loud, in fact he doesn’t even say it in his mind but calls her she-who-must-not-be-and-so-on, and other names similar to this.

They are both drawn to each other because of their grief, that neither wants to talk about. Christian loves books, Bridgett does not, in fact she tells him she has never read a book. She is older than him, and they only thing they really have in common is grief and not knowing how to deal with it.

Bridgett thinks a lot about her husband, whether they were really happy together for the almost three decades they were married. She keeps thinking about what Hans would think if he saw her now. She wonders if he was still alive or if he left her too. She learns to dance with Christian, they go out to dinners together, she buys her first cell phone (which Hans has been encouraging to do for years but she never did). She feels alive when she is with Christian, but she knows she must return home eventually.

It surprised me that one night after leaving Bridgett’s apartment Christian returns home to find Sylvie on his door step waiting for him. He tries to get her to leave, but she refuses and attempts to seduce him. In the end they end up spending the night together. However, in the morning he realizes that he is over her and doesn’t love her anymore. He can say her name and it doesn’t hurt anymore. He tells her to leave then he goes to work. When he returns home she is gone.

I especially enjoyed the fact that the narrative went back and forth between what Bridgett was thinking as opposed to what Christian was thinking.

I felt the book was very accurate to real life. The fact that two different people, both handling a different kind of grief, could be drawn together. They each have different ways of handling that grief. It show us that there is no right or wrong when it comes to dealing with grief. Sometimes, it just needs to work its way through on its own. It comes down to acknowledging the grief. Until Christian was able to say Sylvie’s name out loud and Bridgett was able to say Michael’s name out loud, then, and only then, were they able to heal and truly face their grief.

II would give the book a four-star rating. Not that it wasn’t a great read, because it was, but I feel a five-star rating is for perfection. Very few books, if any, can really reach perfection. However, I would highly recommend this book to others. It gives you insight into different aspects of grief and the various ways people cope with it.