Somewhere along the way, I forgot how much of a resource the library can be. Here I was buying books left and right on Amazon with no real foundation or guarantee that they would be books that I actually wanted to keep. So, in addition to supporting authors, just because, they need to sell books to keep writing them, I decided to take a trip to my local library. 

One of the first titles that I knew I wanted to look into was "What We Lose" by Zinzi Clemmons. Personally, I get many book recommendations from the people that I follow online. And once I see a title floating around enough, I trust that it's something that may be worthwhile to check out. The same thing happened to me with "The Hate U Give," and we see how well that did. 

I was pleasantly surprised to learn that Clemmons herself spent some time in the Philadelphia area, which is my current residence. 

Her story centers around Thandi, who is born to South African parents but living in the states. She has gone from Philadelphia to the New York area. 

One thing that I noticed immediately was that there weren't your typical Chapters that we're used to seeing in novels. These felt more like reflections or journal entries from the character which created a different intimacy as a reader that I appreciated. 

The emotions of grief are very realistic and show how the author herself, is familiar with the cycles from anger, to disbelief, to comfort in that process. 

The book is sprinkled with historical context from South Africa and just simple follows the perils of grief, love, and growth as a woman. The story is delicate and easily digestible. It took me just two days to read, so if you're looking for a quick read this is definitely it.