Grief Girl Novel Analysis

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Grief Girl is a novel written by Erin Vincent about her and her sibling’s experience of losing both their mother and father. Vincent was only fourteen years old at the time of her parents’ death. The chapter goes into detail about the events of the night of Vincent’s parents’ death. Based on the chapter, I can conclude that Vincent definitely went through at least two of the stages of grief. The fact that the novel is nonfiction helps me connect with the emotions that Vincent felt that day. Her details are extremely vivid and it is recognizable that Vincent recalls the events from that day very well. At the beginning of the first chapter entitled “October 23, 1983,” Erin Vincent is extremely worried about her parents’ whereabouts. She begins …show more content…

She remembers calling and checking on the status of her parents and the piercing dial tone sound when people kept hanging up on her. She also recalls where she was standing when she got the phone call and that it was dark and she refused to turn on any lights. I think that it is amazing that on probably what was the worst day of her life she remembers so many details that people normally would not remember. The fact that she was fourteen at the time and still remembers most of what happened that day surprises me even more. Her descriptive words help me to get in tune with what is happening. I can picture her pacing all around the house waiting for someone to call her with more information. Her sweaty palms were more than likely trembling with the fear of the unknown. I would absolutely hate to be in this situation. Her siblings were not at home this night, so she was at home alone worrying all by …show more content…

Losing one parent is hard enough, but when losing both parents at the same time it has to be the most horrific experience. I have never experienced that personally, but I do know a few people who have. A close friend of mine lost both of her parents on the same night due to a car accident, just like Vincent. At the time my friend was only 12 years old and a student in the 7th grade. She went to various counselors that her grandparents took her to. Her counseling sessions went very well, and she even stated that talking to her counselor about the situation was better than talking to her grandparents. At only 12 years old she suffered the lost of both of her parents, and had to step up to help take care of her two younger sisters. Like Vincent, she too went through the process of denial. Fortunately today she has progressed to the stage of grief known as acceptance and is doing much better. I imagine that Vincent was the same way. I do believe that writing this book was a great release form of the grief she still faces today. In conclusion, the first chapter of Grief Girl was great. If it were not for Erin Vincent’s descriptive details of that night, I do not think I would have been able to connect with her feelings and truly understand her pain. Going through the grieving process is extremely difficult. The fact that Vincent wrote this novel means

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