A genuinely moving, funny, and inventive account of loss and grief, mental illness and suicide, from film and TV producer Liz Levine (Story of a Girl), written in the aftermath of the deaths of her sister and best friend.
I feel like I might be a terrible person to be laughing in these moments. But it turns out, I'm not alone.
In November of 2016, Liz Levine's younger sister, Tamara, reached a breaking point after years of living with mental illness. In the dark hours before dawn, she sent a final message to her family then killed herself.
In Nobody Ever Talks About Anything But the End, Liz weaves the story of what happened to Tamara with another significant death-that of Liz's childhood love, Judson, to cancer. She writes about her relationship with Judson, Tamara's struggles, the conflicts that arise in a family of challenging personalities, and how death casts a long shadow. This memorable account of life and loss is haunting yet filled with dark humor-Tamara emails her family when Trump is elected to check if she's imagining things again, Liz discovers a banana has been indicted as a whistleblower in an alleged family conspiracy, and a little niece declares Tamara's funeral the "most fun ever!"
With honesty, Liz exposes the raw truths about grief and mourning that we often shy away from-and almost never share with others. And she reveals how, in the midst of death, life-with all its messy complications-must also be celebrated.