Silent Grief: Miscarriage - Finding Your Way through the Darkness

A reviewer

Silent Grief by Clara Hinton When the subject of miscarriage, or child loss of any type comes up why do people just try and avoid talking about what happened? Doctors, friends, and even family that are supposed to be there through everything to support you can even seem to turn you away, only saying two words that break your heart, 'I'm Sorry.' When you need comfort and consoling more now than ever, it seems like you're left all alone to grieve by yourself. Just looking to find a way to help mothers, fathers, or anyone who has suffered from child loss Clara Hinton writes about her own experiences. Going from the pain of miscarriages to still birth and beyond, Ms. Hilton explains how to turn to God as he will always be there to comfort you when no one else seems to care. I needed tissues while reading this book. I have also had a miscarriage and it tore me apart. I constantly blamed myself for not being able to carry the child and felt that I had let my husband down. It is just a part of the grieving period and now that I have read Silent Grief, I feel a little more at peace knowing that there have been people in the same situation. Blaming yourself and silently cursing God for the death of your child is natural actually, but if you continue to have faith in Him then your life will turn out as it should be. Anyone man or woman, should read this book if you've suffered through child loss of any kind. It is written with hands of experience and love that can help you through one of the toughest times in your life. I honestly wish I had this book through my 'dark time' as I call it because it would have helped me so much. This book will remain on my keeper shelf and I will gladly recommend it to anyone that could use a friend in their time of need. Ms. Hinton gets 5 hearts and huge hugs from me!

1 out of 1 people found this review helpful.

Too repetitive and depressing and too wide of a scope

My first reaction to this book is how horrible her experiences with child loss were. She talks endlessly about people who said or did exactly the wrong thing, and I'm sure it hurt horribly. And she adds other people's terrible experiences. Aside from her husband graciously being there to hold her while she cried there is very little mention of what caring and loving actions others might have done. I find it hard to believe that she had absolutely no loving or caring words or actions from anybody else. She says the same thing over and over again with very little organization. The chapter 'Where are my Friends?' talks about all the same issues as the chapters 'Nobody Cares', and 'They Care, but They don't Understand' just with different stories. Sometimes she mentions things that people did to try and create a memorial to the child or to try to heal, but you have to read the whole chapter to find them sprinkled here and there. She has too wide a scope. She talks about miscarriages (both early and late-term), early childhood death (such as SIDS), death of older children, missing children as well as death of adult children. She talks about people never healing for 20 years or more. At first I found this especially troublesome, since I feared that I would never recover to any degree and always feel as sad as I do right now, or worse that the full impact might not hit me until 6 months later and I might feel worse. This probably is more likely to apply to someone who lost an infant or toddler not someone like me who miscarried at 10 weeks. She doesn't make it clear which context she's talking about, so I can only guess. I haven't yet read the chapters that talk about healing, perhaps they are worth reading.

1 out of 2 people found this review helpful.

A Book That You MUST Read

Nobody can imagine what it is like to have a miscarriage or to lose a child. Friends may try to help you with nice little sayings or with cards, but they just don't understand what you are going through. And that is where this book comes in... The author has gone through child loss and several miscarriages herself, so she actually knows what a grieving person is feeling. She helps the readers realize that they are not going crazy if they are feeling grief days, weeks, or months after the loss. Hinton is an authority on this topic of grief and child loss, as can be seen from the thousands of people that visit her website (named after her book) daily for advice and encouragement. This book has helped me more than I could ever express. As I read the book, I felt like the author was right beside me, encouraging me along the way. Parts of the book are difficult to read - as it brings forth so many painful memories and feelings. However, it helps the healing process so much. I cannot say enough about this book. It is a MUST READ for anyone - man or woman - that has gone through the loss of a child or a miscarriage. Your only regret after buying this book will be that you didn't buy the book much sooner.

1 out of 1 people found this review helpful.

Good for Christians

I started to read this book, hoping to find some comfort after a recent miscarriage. It was very hard to read at first but once I got going, it was informative to a point. I felt like she kept repeating herself over and over. I understand how important God is when you're going through tough times but you don't have to brow beat people with it. It's a good book for those who are Christians and have suffered child loss of some sort.

Silent Grief is a book for everyone.

Silent Grief is a book that should be read by everyone. It is a book that encompasses child loss from as early as miscarriage all the way through adult child loss. It deals with the emotional aspect of grieving the loss of a child, and takes one from the very raw feelings of grief towards the journey of hope and finding joy in living again. This book is not just for parents grieving the loss of a child, but for anyone who is inter-connected with child loss. Health care professionals, doctors, nurses, funeral directors, and counselors should all have a copy of this book. I have never read a book that more completely describes the spectrum of emotions a person goes through during child loss than Silent Grief. This book belongs in the hands of everyone! It is time that we understand the depth of grief one feels during child loss so that we can better learn how to get to the point of hopeful living again.

The best book I've read, hands-down!

This book is the best book I've read since I lost my baby five months ago. I read it for the first time right after losing our first child, and parts of it helped me right away and other parts prepared me for what was ahead in the grieving process. I just read it again, and it amazed me at how true everything Clara Hinton wrote was. It is one thing to read about what might happen, but another to read about what has happened, and for it to be so exactly right on. Miscarriage is a big deal, regardless of what anyone will tell you, and you have to let yourself go through the entire grieving process to heal. Clara, through her own tragic experiences as well as through her accounts of countless other parents' tragedies, tells the truth about what to expect and what to do with the feelings and pain that will inevitably come with losing a precious child, no matter the child's age. I absolutely loved this book, and I am ordering another today for a friend who just lost her first baby, too. This book is also a VERY good book for friends and family members who would like to better understand the grief the parents are going through. I'd give this 10 stars if I could!