Grollman, an "internationally recognized bereavement counselor," offers this book to those seeking solace in Jewish religious teachings after the death of someone close. Unfortunately, what he actually delivers is 103 mostly blank pages, each of them decorated with a few lines of banal therapeutic platitude rendered into the spiritualized form of short verse stanzas. Here is the entirety of page 55: "Many mourners find it helpful to/ seek the company of others who have/ experienced similar loss and sorrow./ A bereavement group can become a second family/ during your journey of grief."

Another haiku advises readers, "You may experience a variety of symptoms:/ stomachaches/ headaches/ strange rashes/ palpitations or dizziness/ tightness in your throat/.Consult an understanding physician." A few biblical passages and a perfunctory section on Jewish mourning rituals add the "Jewish Perspective."

Grollman expects people to pay for this pamphlet's worth of bromides. Unless you feel there is spiritual comfort to be gleaned from staring at expanses of empty paper, please don't insult yourself, or other mourners, or the memory of the deceased with this shameless attempt to cash in on suffering.