A Hole in the World: Finding Hope in Rituals of Grief and Healing by Amanda Held Opelt Book Review

In A Hole in the World, Amanda Held Opelt opened up about how she had to learn to survive in our trying season of her life. In the book, she shared how she experienced three miscarriages. She lost her sister, Rachel Held Evans (blogger and New York Times best-selling author) unexpectedly passed away due to the flu at age 37. She had a few brain seizures. She shared how her last post was right before lent and she promised to post some more post and never got the chance to. She left behind her husband, her 11-month year old daughter, and three-year-old son. She also had a miscarriage shortly after her sister’s death. In the book, she explored the twelve rituals of bereavement. Mostly she looked at the Western culture and Abrahamic.

 

 

 

 

One of my favorites that she looked at was the one on casseroles and how this relates to the body and grief. We may feel fatigue, experience headaches, joint pain, changes in our sleeping cycles, eating habits, and much more. Grief can cause us to have higher levels of cortisol and experience stress. We could be more prone to cardiac risks and reduced immune systems. We also have a 40% chance of death when we lose a spouse. She opened up about her pregnancy and how she had a miscarriage and everything she felt. She explained how when someone dies there is a typically a big meal provided by family and friends. The Jewish include rolls to portray the staff of life, hard boiled eggs to symbolize nature of life. In Switzerland, men carry lemons to place on graves to symbolize sharpness and bitterness of death. She looked at many more examples in other countries. Eating at a funeral helps to remind us that we’re still alive. She shared how when Jesus raised Jairus daughter from the death the first thing he told them was to feed her. 

 

 

 

I would recommend this amazing book on handling grief to anyone who is currently experiencing grief or will in the future. I liked how the book explored 12 different rituals of bereavement and they can all assist us in getting through our pain and hurt. I was touched by reading about her life story throughout the book and how she had to experience grief in different times in her life and how she was able to heal, manage, and still live her life. I loved how she came up with the idea of looking at different counties and cultures and how they process grief. It was very interesting and I learned a lot of knowledge I didn’t realize what other countries did. 

 

 

"I received this book free from the publisher, Hachette Book Group/Faithwords for my honest review.”

 

 

If you would like to purchase a copy, check it out on Amazon.com:

 

 

https://www.amazon.com/Hole-World-Finding-Rituals-Healing/dp/1546001891/