A memoir… a written account of ones life. A biography.

I love reading but I’ve always stuck with fiction, only reading biographies when they were assigned in class while in elementary school. I don’t know why it is, I guess I thought they were boring… slow… or just not interesting.

I was wrong.

The Rules of Inheritance is an incredible piece of work that once I started I couldn’t put it down. It was the most gripping memoir and had me in tears more than anything I have ever read. Claire’s story is a sad one as she recounts her life, her parents lives & their suffering from cancer and Claire’s struggle with her own grief. I have never read something so powerful and deeply touching and knowing that this wasn’t fiction made it even more impressionable on me.

I love how the book was written in a non-linear fashion and followed five stages of grief; denial, anger, bargaining, depression and acceptance. The non-linear fashion could confuse some people and I’ll admit at first I was a bit lost but the more I read the more it became a natural flow for the book.

Her grief was so strong and led her to a destructive lifestyle I was amazed that nobody in her life stood up and tried to help her… maybe they did or possibly she just didn’t let anyone that close to her. From bad relationships to the constant drinking to help numb the pain I kept hoping that the next page would bring happiness and relief into her life. And soon enough it did.

I’ll stop here so I don’t give to much away and urge you to go out, get the book and read it for yourself. I know that you’ll love it as much as I did.

If you’ve already read the book or want to know more come take part in the conversation over at BlogHer.

This is a paid review for BlogHer Book Club but all opinions expressed are my own.