The Still Point of the Turning World

Emily Rapp Black 2013

Devastation Rating

Existential Dread
grief memoir child loss disability

Our Take

Rapp Black's son Ronan was diagnosed with Tay-Sachs at nine months. He would go blind, lose motor function, and die before age three. She wrote this book while he was still alive, knowing the ending. Grief in the present tense — the most devastating temporal trick literature can play.

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