A People Best Book of February 2025
“This intimate memoir of grief is a lifeline to others dealing with loss. … Intensely intimate and candid … Brooks tracks the geography of grief with patience and grace as she comes to terms with the ongoing nature of outliving the ones you love most. … Her memoir is certainly a testament to her own unique loss, but it’s moreover a lifeline to others who will find themselves in this familiar, shattered landscape of grief.” —Los Angeles Times
“Brooks wield[s] precise and often beautiful language and, in the most graceful way possible, point[s] a way forward. A rich account of marriage and mourning … Memorial Days contains much compassionate advice for those who have, or will, suffer the same ferocious blow.” —The Washington Post
“Brooks and her husband, Tony Horwitz, had been reporters in war zones, but nothing prepared her for his sudden death, at just 60, after three decades together. Four years later, she journeyed to a remote island near Tasmania “to do the unfinished work of grieving.” This memoir is her report back, at once a spare accounting of tragic detail and an appreciation of the healing properties of solitude.” —The New York Times Book Review
“Brooks closes her book with advice that, as a widow myself, I fully attest to: ‘In whatever way works for you, tell your story.’ It will not bring your loved one back. But as Brooks valiantly demonstrates, it will sustain you even as you endure.” —The Wall Street Journal
“Beautiful. Every single page, every single word. [Memorial Days] is not merely an unflinching exploration of grief, it’s a precise examination of the nitty-gritty, often infuriating work demanded of the souls left behind. … Brooks never loses her sense of humor or remarkable ability to convey a landscape or bring people you’ll never meet to life. Brooks is one of our literary treasures and Horwitz was one of our literary treasures. Read this book. Then read one of Tony’s. Or, better still, take a month or two and read every single book this remarkable couple has gifted us.” —Chris Bohjalian
“Highly recommended to those who enjoy her novels, but also to anyone who needs to remember how joy and grief can (and should) coexist.” —Maggie Stiefvater
“Memorial Days is a beautifully modulated cry in the wilderness; an unsentimental contribution to the ever-growing pile of secular literature about grief in which the end of life is punctuated by a period, not an ellipsis.” —Maureen Corrigan, NPR’s Fresh Air
“Memorial Days joins Joan Didion’s The Year of Magical Thinking and Michelle Zauner’s Crying in H Mart as memoirs of grief worth seeking out. … Memorial Days gives due justice to what it means to live and love and experience loss.” —Chicago Tribune
“[Brooks] returned to her native Australia, to an isolated shack on tiny, sparsely populated Flinders Island to face her loss by writing this book: the story of Horwitz’s accomplished life and untimely death … the narrative of their wonderful relationship, which began when they met as students at Columbia Journalism School and could almost be a treatment for a rom-com. … The grace Brooks offered herself with this time alone is offered to the reader all through the book; Memorial Days will surely join the other classics delivered to new widows by their literary friends.” —Boston Globe
“Warm and life-affirming, this brilliant book has its own restorative beauty.” —People
“A powerful, slender book packed with quotable observations … Memorial Days masterfully reveals Brooks as both reporter and fiction writer, marshaling facts and details while probing the ever-motivating miracles of love and loss.” —Star Tribune
“Lovely [and] poignant … Brooks brings to bear the descriptive powers, attention to detail, and straight shooting of the best reporters and a fine novelist’s grace and humanity.” —Air Mail
“There is no single set of instructions on how to cope with grief. But a gifted writer, sharing her own story, can offer a path out of darkness toward reflection and peace.” —Christian Science Monitor
“With exquisite writing, the book is a gorgeous love letter to her husband, Tony Horwitz. … We marvel at Brooks’ skill in crafting powerful prose with a visceral impact. … Brooks gives us an enormous gift, generously sharing her intensely personal journey, which will touch many souls.” —Martha’s Vineyard Times
“This poignant book on grief ultimately teaches gladness. … A spectacular ode to grieving and an elegant homage to marriage. … A masterpiece.” —Washington Independent Review of Books
“There is both humor and sorrow in these pages, and Tony emerges as an interesting and complicated figure, someone who loved life and was deeply driven. … In its spare and direct pages, Brooks honors the man that she loves, and she offers her own story as a companion for others who are walking grief’s lonely path.” —BookPage (starred review)
“Brooks, with arresting precision, sensitivity, and candor, takes deep soundings of her grief and evolving perceptions and feelings in a generous and resonant remembrance. … Brooks’ many fans will want to learn more about her, while ardent memoir readers and those looking for books about grief will also reach for Memorial Days.” —Booklist (starred review)
“[M]oving and lyrical … readers reckoning with the loss of a loved one will find wisdom in these pages.” —Publishers Weekly (starred review)
“A graceful and moving meditation on bereavement.” —Kirkus Reviews
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