Title: Family: Vital to Us and Society
Author: Betty Fox Cooper, PhD
Publisher: XlibrisUS
ISBN: 978-1664128347
Pages: 286
Genre: Self-Help/Motivational
Reviewed by: Christina Avina

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No one fully understands what they will experience in the face of loss or tragedy as grief sets in, until it happens to them. Grief is a painful emotion which can become quite debilitating, and no one can tell you how long it will last, or at what point that grief will ever fully leave you; for each of us experiences grief in our own way.

In author Betty Fox Cooper’s Family: Vital to Us and Society, the author takes readers on an emotional journey exploring the concept of grief, utilizing her own experiences losing her husband of 62 years. After spending decades leading professional and community-based programs on things like social justice, peace and family, among other things, the author found herself struggling with loss and grief and the sadness that came with it, and as a result started examining her past and her connection to the concept of family overall. Utilizing the past and the experiences of her past, the author showcases how those experiencing grief can fight to get on the path to finding happiness once more.

A heartfelt and educational experience, the author has done a fantastic job of blending years of experience in her field with the raw emotions of dealing with loss, and how it impacts not only her but everyone around her as well. The concept the author explores of how we impact society versus how we impact our families was an interesting vehicle to drive the book forward, as weighing how our actions and lives impact the world as a whole and the balance of trying to be there for your family as well is something many of us struggle through, and the author presents this in a very personal way with her own life.

For those who enjoy memoir-style writing within the self-help and motivational genres, this is the perfect book. The author delivers a very personal look into the grieving process that many readers will be able to relate to, and showcases the intricate process of learning and growing in order to overcome that grief. What is so interesting is the concept of living in memories to help alleviate some of the grief, as our memories can often keep the love and happiness those who are lost to us alive once more.

An intellectually stimulating, emotionally-driven memoir style self-help book, author Betty Fox Cooper, PhD’s Family: Vital to Us and Society is a must-read. The holidays often can bring about fresh pain and feelings of loss, especially after the year this world has seen, and finding ways to be happy and keep those we have lost alive in our hearts is a vital step forward in life. While no one can ever truly take grief away, finding ways to live with it and live life as a whole is an important thing, and readers won’t want to miss this.