The Crying Book

IndoorDame

The Crying Book | Heather Christle

#MayMontage #DesignOnCover I want to read this one, and only half for the cover design. @Eggs @Alwaysbeenaloverofbooks

Bookwomble I loved this book 🩵😭🩵 2y

Eggs Wonderful 💙🤍💙 2y

dabbe #bluehuedforthemood 💙💙💙 2y

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Bookwomble

The Crying Book | Heather Christle

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Most Wednesday mornings for the past few months, I've come to the SOS room at a hospital in the NHS trust I work for, prepared to support front line staff whose experience on the COVID-19 wards has exhausted them, or left them holding stress or trauma. So far, I've had no visitors, but have read a lot of books: just finished this one. I wonder whether the culture of resilience - of having to be seen to be coping - is a disincentive for 👇🏼

Bookwomble colleagues to step through the door, or if they are actually just coping with it all, taking it in their stride? Perhaps, given that we're still in the middle of the pandemic, preparing for a second wave in the UK, there's a sense that this isn't the right time to stop to take a breath when the storm is still raging? I know colleagues do attend at other times; maybe this is just a quiet shift. I wonder whether it's wrong of me to want somebody👇🏼 4y

Bookwomble to come and cry? To share with me their fatigue and their strength? I know the answer isn't a simple binary.
Heather Christle's book is a deeply personal look at her experience of depression and despair, which frequently leaves her crying for days, bringing in cultural perspectives on how we relate to tears, sadness and grief. It's raw, vulnerable and beautiful. 5🌟 4y

VioletBramble I‘m a nurse in NYC. Thank you for being there for the hospital staff. They appreciate your presence even if they never speak with you. Based on my experience there are 2 reasons no one comes to talk. They are extremely busy on the wards. Free moments are spent eating, drinking, and bathroom breaks. The 2nd reason is definitely that they must be seen to be coping. My manager, who is bipolar, is very big on MH care-for herself- but will pounce and 4y

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VioletBramble berate her staff if she sees any sign of “not being able to handle it” All instances will show up on your annual review. My group went from General Pediatrics to Adult ICU, after only a 2 1/2 hour class. We were terrified. Our manager screamed at us. At this point we shut her out, formed Team Peds, and supported each other. A therapist came to our unit daily. She was placed directly across from our manager. No one spoke with her. We‘d say hello. 4y

Bookwomble @VioletBramble Thank you for your insight, Kelly. The organisational culture where I work is definitely supportive, but I hear of individual managers similar to yours who, sadly, undermine that. Of course, an organisation can put out conflicting messages from different departments, and that can be hard to navigate: "Take care of yourself, but you must hit these targets". It's good to hear that you and your co- workers provide mutual support ❤?❤ 4y

Alwaysbeenaloverofbooks @VioletBramble that is terrible and so sad!! I‘m so sorry y‘all have been treated so badly 😓 Thank you for all you do 🙏🏻 4y

Alwaysbeenaloverofbooks @Bookwomble that‘s awesome that they have support. I‘m a nurse in a transfer center and have been out of direct patient care for a year... I am depressed just seeing and taking calls for admissions for these patients 😓 4y

19 likes7 comments

Bookwomble

The Crying Book | Heather Christle

"They say perhaps we cry when language fails, when words can no longer adequately convey our hurt. When my crying is not wordless enough I beat my head with my fists.”

I'm 50% through, & Christle covers more ground than I'd expected: her own tears, yes, but also her depression & despair, motherhood & childhood, police shootings of black children, white-womens'-tears, Sylvia Plath, books, writing and poetry (perhaps not so surprising the last 4).

26 likes

Bookwomble

The Crying Book | Heather Christle

"Almost all my understanding is from books...Sometimes it seems there are more pages in me than breaths."

28 likes

Well-ReadNeck

The Crying Book | Heather Christle

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Non-fiction; memoir; poetry; essays. This book defies genre categories but is heart wrenching beautiful meditation on crying. ❤️

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Mitch

The Crying Book | Heather Christle

I love these interviews - revealing the decisions behind certain cover choices - and rejections!

https://electricliterature.com/10-book-covers-that-almost-made-the-cut/

tpixie Sounds fun! Thanks!! 5y

LeahBergen Cool! I‘m always amazed at how much I predict what a novel will be like by the tone of the cover (although I try not to judge a book... 😆😆) 5y

Mitch @LeahBergen absolutely- it‘s a huge influencer for me 5y

Hooked_on_books Very cool. I love stories like this. I also find interesting the fact that I don‘t always prefer the final cover choice. 5y

75 likes4 comments

underground_bks

The Crying Book | Heather Christle

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Poet Heather Christle began researching and writing The Crying Book at a time when tears were most copious for her, while both grieving the suicide of a close friend and anxiously preparing for the birth of her daughter. What emerges from Christle‘s exploration of the act of crying is both intimate and intellectual, particular and profound, as she dives into the significance of tears personally, scientifically, and historically.

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