Author: Gretta Krane

ISBN:  978 097775430 4

The National Center for Health Statistics for the year 2003 estimates that over 30,000 people die in the USA as a result of suicide. It is the fourth leading cause in the USA of death for adults between the ages of 18 and 65.

The reasons why people commit suicide have been pored over in countless books. Some suicide victims have suffered from mental illness that may have not been discovered in time by their physicians. Others who take their own lives have been confronted with such strong feelings as sadness, hopelessness, fear, and anger that they see very little options for resolving their frustrations except death. They may have even realized that something was wrong with them yet did nothing about it and refrained from seeking professional help.

From the Ashes Flies the Phoenix is author Gretta Krane's memoir of the personal details of how she was actually present when her husband fatally shot himself in the head and the physical and psychological consequences that followed.

Krane's brute honesty is quite in evidence as she paints a vivid description of her struggles with anger, guilt, shame, betrayal, abandonment, pain, grief and her eventual coming to terms with this horrendous tragedy. She is a deeply personal diarist who shares some painfully candid revelations as she narrates how she found herself in the bottom of a well for a long time and eventually discovering what was keeping her imprisoned in the well.

The narrative evenly glides between Krane's personal recollections and her survivor testimony that she hopes will serve as an inspiration for those who unfortunately have experienced a similar tragedy.

Today, I doubt if there are any worthy subjects that are not out there for discussion. However, the problem is how to present them in a way that they are not reduced to triviality. Suicide is a subject that needs to be talked about in the same manner as we have done with child abuse and domestic violence without stigmatization. What Krane offers is a gripping narrative that is crisp and honest offering some guidance to those who are faced with the same hopelessness that she experienced after the tragic suicide of her husband. Moreover, she has effectively connected her experience with her readers illustrating how it moved her, changed her, enlightened her and also terrified her.  

From the Ashes Flies the Phoenix is a great debut by a promising author and given the delicate topic, the book manages to be serious without being self-pitying-no easy task, even for veteran authors.

It should be mentioned that the book at the end also contains some brief helpful resources as well as a short list of recommended books.

The above review was contributed by: NORM GOLDMAN:  Retired Title Attorney: Editor & Publisher of Bookpleasures. Here are  Norm Goldman's Reviews       

 To read Norm's Interview With Gretta, CLICK HERE