Tell Me Good Things

Reviews

A tender memoir of the challenges of bereavement... I closed this book wishing I’d met her – but feeling that I almost had. A widower turns grief into a profound appreciation of his wife’s legacy in this poignant elegy … Runcie entwines beguiling digressions on everything from Victorian mourning customs to the philosophy of soccer fandom among his evocative vignettes of their life together … The result is that rare thing, a moving exploration of a great marriage and its ability to nourish the mind and heart. Runcie generously fulfils the promise of his title… because his memoir is full of good things: stories that reveal Imrie’s sharp intelligence, her bold fashion sense, her glee at pricking the bubble of pretension… Runcie is also touchingly honest… Tender memoir. A deeply emotional memoir … and a moving meditation on grief … Sorrow imbues a tender, intimate memoir. [Tell Me Good Things] is not primarily a memoir of illness — of an unwinnable battle to stay alive — but a love letter to the most important person in [Runcie’s] life. Vivid, bleak and wonderful… Where Runcie is excellent is in laying bare his own grief, its narcissism and the ‘bizarre freedom’ is gives him not to care anymore… As an instructive examination of how to find hope in the thralls of despair, Tell Me Good Things is a wonderful addition to the literature of bereavement. Wise, refreshing ... A touching human story. Runcie has the gift of the born storyteller Variations on themes of love, loss, and grief run throughout the novel... Runcie beautifully renders each character’s humanity and convincingly portrays a creative environment. Expand reviews