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Rating: 
Summary: Weak on non-illness related ambiguous loss
Review: Boss understands the ongoing trauma of living with someone who is there/not there and by explaining it, helps us feel a little better. After years of being told to "hate the illness, not the person" with mentally ill siblings or "that's not really your father talking" (cancer/dementia), I found this book extremely validating and helpful with my own work. - Clea Simon, author "Fatherless Women: How We Change After We Lose Our Dads" (Wiley) and "Mad House: Growing Up in the Shadow of Mentally Ill Siblings" (Penguin)
Rating:
Summary: Weak on non-illness related ambiguous loss
Review: Here's how I would rate this book if I had the flexibility to do so: five stars, if you need to prove to someone in your life that there is such a thing as ambiguous loss; three stars if your family is suffering the pyschological loss of a family member through a disease such as Alzheimer's; and two stars if you are trying to name or process any other ambiguous loss, from a parent who disappeared after a divorce to a miscarriage to a friendship that melts away.Be warned: You will not find in these pages much practical advice for dealing with ambiguous loss. Boss's main goal seems to be convincing other therapists and laypeople that ambiguous loss exists. The one concrete step she advocates is family sessions with one or more therapists in attendance for illness-related losses, mainly Alzheimer's. In non-illness related loss, the book is weak. Boss skims by the effects of a father or mother disappearing after a divorce; families with a history of cutting off family members; the fading of once-close friendships; loss experienced after the ending of an illicit relationship; or rejection in professional situations. She acknowledges these are losses but not how to approach them as such. In short, if you as an individual already know you are grieving an ambiguous loss and want specific help in dealing with that, you'll find this book disappointing. You'll do better to purchase books on grief/the grieving process.
Rating: 
Summary: Living with losing myself...
Review: I am suffering from early onset dementia, and I found this book very helpful to me in coming to understand the problems that face my extended family as my dementia progresses. It was hard reading for me, as I had to keep backing up to remember what I had read, but wonderfully worthwhile. I found the authors perceptions of different peoples strategies/failures to be well weighted. Although there may be types of "ambiguous loss" not detailed, her relation of how different extended families have dealt (or not dealt) with their ambiguous loss were revealing, to me, of some of the challenges that are facing my own family. My thanks to the author.
Rating:
Summary: A Brave Step into an area people don't want to acknowledge
Review: I found this book to be wonderful. Ambiguous Loss is a hard subject to tackle and answers are not black and white. Pauline has given me a new insight to kinds of loss different than my own. This book has very inspirational ways to deal with one of the hardest losses a person can face. Since this kind of loss is different for everyone solutions are different for everyone. I feel they are covered. I am recommending this book for everyone I know! A Must Read!
Rating:
Summary: A Brave Step into an area people don't want to acknowledge
Review: I found this book to be wonderful. Ambiguous Loss is a hard subject to tackle and answers are not black and white. Pauline has given me a new insight to kinds of loss different than my own. This book has very inspirational ways to deal with one of the hardest losses a person can face. Since this kind of loss is different for everyone solutions are different for everyone. I feel they are covered. I am recommending this book for everyone I know! A Must Read!
Rating: 
Summary: Excellent Book, but....
Review: I just finished reading this book and I found it quite moving and helpful for those who are dealing with caring for Alzeimers patients. It also explains in detail on ambiguous loss of families of MIAs and those who are immigrants. It also gives some good insights on families who are dealing with family members who are slowly dying. She offers hope for families who are dealing with these issues. While I am appreciative of her recognition that those who are touched by adoption deal with ambiguous loss, she really did not give it the attention that she gave other cases of ambiguous loss. As someone touched by adoption, I found it lacking and therefore I am taking 1 star away for those who come to this book seeking answers to adoption issues. I came away with the feeling that she had limited knowledge of adoption issues. She tended to concentrate on topics close to her heart and related to her research area. I would really like to see a book that deals with Ambiguous Loss in Adoption in more detail. If adoption is not a part of your experience, but you are dealing with those in your life who are physically present, but not psychologically present, or who are psychologically present, but not physically present, this book can be a good first step. The book could have been far more in-depth than it is.
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