From the very first email I had with the author, I knew Sorry For Your Loss was going to be a bit quirky. I had requested some materials about the book and Joanne Levy’s response email was titled “the worst possible title for an email”. Because honestly, nobody wants an email titled “sorry for your loss” sitting in their inbox. This thoughtful hilarity surrounding death and mourning customs was as good a hint as any as to what I would find in this MG novel about a girl who works in a Jewish funeral home and the newly orphaned boy she meets on the job. 

My favorite part of Judaism is our life cycle events. The bris or kiddush to mark a new birth. The bnei mitzvahs. The weddings. Unfortunately, those celebrations of life come hand in hand with our traditions surrounding death – fast burial followed by seven days of sitting shiva for the mourners and the unveiling of the headstone a year later. Even as a kid, I’d been to my fair share of shivas. It felt strangely grown up to take my dutiful place among the comforters sitting with the mourners and bringing them food. But that’s how Judaism rolls. Our kids are full participants.

Recently, I sat shiva myself. Having ritual observance to fall back on was helpful during a time when I was trying to find my footing in a world that was both unequivocally changed and shockingly the same all at once 

That is the paradox that Evie, our aspiring junior funeral director, faces when she agrees to spend time with Oren, a recently orphaned boy whose parents funeral has taken place at her parents funeral home. Oren seems so much like a regular boy as they hang out and do regular kid stuff that it is easy to forget his parents have just died. Until something reminds them both of why he is there. Because grief has a way of sneaking up on people. 

For his part, Oren puts up with Evie’s endless chattering with the gratefulness unique to someone who has no desire to fill the silence with their own words. Through his interactions with Evie as they sneak around the funeral home and work on art projects, the author shows that the recently bereaved have a unique insight to offer and that sometimes those comforting the mourners are the true beneficiaries. 

Caring for the dead is often referred to as “Chessed Shel Emet”, the only true good dead one can do in this life, because it comes without ulterior motives. The dead cannot repay us. We cannot ask them for favors or expect recompense. We care for them simply because it is the right thing to do. The human thing. And this story is unequivocally human. While it handles death and grief with a light touch appropriate for middle graders it was also an enjoyable read for this  adult. 

Note: I received a free reviewer e-copy of this book in the hopes that I would review it, but no strings were attached.

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E Broderick is a writer and speculative fiction enthusiast. When not writing she enjoys epic games of trivial pursuit and baking. She currently lives in the U.S. but is eagerly awaiting the day a sentient spaceship offers to take her traveling around the galaxy.