A HEART THAT WORKS by Rob Delaney ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐

“A heart that hurts, is a heart that works.”

I fucking loved this book, if for no other reason than because I’ll never read another like it. It constantly takes you to the brink before abruptly reminding you it’s okay to laugh. And there’s thankfully plenty to laugh at for a book about death and grief. Rob is in control of every emotion, and he has the authority to pull each one out as needed to make you understand his pain.

I don’t want to use the word “raw”, because it feels so cliche and vague to describe a book this focused. Delaney admits he started out writing it with the hopes that readers would feel punished for thinking they could simply open the book and expect entertainment. If he had left it at that, then it would be a very raw account of a grieving father I’m sure. But he found the layers of love and truth and humanity and connection in telling about his son’s short life, and it shines through spectacularly. And it still stings.

If for whatever reason you find yourself wondering what a life of loss is really like, or if you yourself have gone through it and find the idea of terribly kindred spirits soothing, Rob has the words for you. On top of the comedy and ability to describe the hardest days of his life, he speaks with complete sincerity and god’s honest affection. You can practically see his soul spilling off the page. He had me looking over at my three-week-old and smiling Iike a goon.

While I wouldn’t say its the easiest thing to read about — and may even warn those with a sensitivity to children’s trauma to sit this one out, if you must — it’s told as beautifully and approach-ably as possible. It will have you savoring your normalcy, or your lack there of, and it will have you in tears.