Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #179642 in Books
• Published on: 2002-05-01
• Original language: English
• Number of items: 1
• Binding: Paperback
• 272 pages

From the Author
We who have lost a loved one to suicide are not alone.
My husband killed himself seven years ago. The overwhelming isolation made me feel I was totally alone and no one else could possibly understand what I was going through. Since then, I have spoken with hundreds of other survivors. There are many of us out there--I hope my book will break through the stigma of mourning in secrecy a person we have loved and lost to suicide. I have also included a list of suicide survivor support groups throughout the US and Canada. We who have been there share a singular bond. I hope you like my book.

Customer Reviews

Practical help for survivors
Bought for me by a thoughtful sister following the death of my son in June 2006, this was the first book I'd read on suicide. The stories in the book helped me (a) by helping me realise I am not alone in the thoughts and feelings I am having - and that, in itself, has been a comfort (b) by helping to clarify my thinking about my son's suicide - she captures some of the ideas I've been struggling with so well and (c) by providing insights and information (e.g. "A suicidal person is like a black hole of pain. You can give and give but you just can't fill it up".) I recommend it to survivors.

But there is a down side. She luxuriates in high-flown language in her commentary and in the telling of her own story: for example, she can't describe the consulting room where her husband died in simple terms: it has to be "my husband's killing ground" - just excessive and self-indulgent; to much of "me, me, me" I feel. Thankfully, her telling of other people's stories is straightforward and it is in these you will find parallels with your own situation which is really helpful.

A suicide support group in a hard cover.
In a frantic attempt to understand the sudden suicide of my brother, I read numerous suicide related titles. Carla Fine's "No Time to Say Goodbye : Surviving the Suicide of a Loved One" was the only book which in anyway connected with my raw feelings as a survivor. It's not a great academic study of suicide. The professional, academic titles are painfully remote, inaccurate and inadequate from a survivor's perspective. "No Time to Say Goodbye:" doesn't answer the only question that matters most to survivors, "Why?". It provides a supporting context for the horrendous assault on a survivor's emotional and intellectual resources following a loved one's suicide. Knowing that others feel the same things doesn't make the pain go away, but reassures that probably you too will survive what feels unbearable. I personally found this book more helpful that the visits to "professional" counselors. Some things in life have to be experienced, not studied, to be understood. Sadly the author has the painful real life credentials to understand and connect with survivors. From her own traumatic loss Carla Fine has provided a great measure of help in what appears to be a helpless situation.

She puts into print, what I am feeling.
I lost my fiance in 2001, and now, in 2003, continue to try to make sense of it all. The most comforting day since, was a day in August, of 2002, when I came across this book of Carla's. I read it - cover to cover - in a day. It was, quite possibly, the only time in 14 months, that I have felt someone else REALLY knew how crippling and debilitating the aftermath of suicide can be. Thank you, over and over, Carla!