The Grief of Stones

The Grief of Stones, by Katherine Addison

The Grief of Stones is more than just the name of this book; it's also the name of an opera within the world of Amalo, a tragic opera about a lighthouse keeper who is bribed to keep the light of his lighthouse off one stormy night, leading to a wreck. It's also the name of the ship that crashes and sinks because of the lack of a guiding light. In the opera, everyone is broken-hearted and then everyone dies.

There's something about this book that reminds me of Richard Siken's poem, "I Had a Dream About You": 'In these dreams it's always you: / the boy in the sweatshirt, / the boy on the bridge, the boy who always keeps me / from jumping off the bridge.' The dead are always nonsensical, always escaping one's grip, always just in the corner of one's eye and then gone when you turn to look at them. Kids on the margins, too, whether alive or dead, are always nonsensical, always gone just when you look for them. This book is not surreal, but there is always something surreal about death, something eerie about a quiet, arbitrary ending.

There's something about this book that reminds me of carrying a backpack full of rocks. That reminds me of grief, and poetry, and the grinding physical ache of getting up in the morning after someone you love is dead. Celehar cannot solve the ache for his petitioners, and he doesn't try, and I respect it.

This series remains a good series to read when full of grief. And so I keep reading them.