Your Memberships & Subscriptions
Download the free Kindle app and start reading Kindle books instantly on your smartphone, tablet, or computer - no Kindle device required.
Read instantly on your browser with Kindle for Web.
Using your mobile phone camera - scan the code below and download the Kindle app.
Audible sample
Follow the author
OK
Black Widow: A Sad-Funny Journey Through Grief for People Who Normally Avoid Books with Words Like "Journey" in the Title Kindle Edition
Leslie Gray Streeter is not cut out for widowhood. She's not ready for hushed rooms and pitying looks. She is not ready to stand graveside, dabbing her eyes in a classy black hat. If she had her way she'd wear her favorite curve-hugging leopard print dress to Scott's funeral; he loved her in that dress! But, here she is, having lost her soulmate to a sudden heart attack, totally unsure of how to navigate her new widow lifestyle. ("New widow lifestyle." Sounds like something you'd find products for on daytime TV, like comfy track suits and compression socks. Wait, is a widow even allowed to make jokes?)
Looking at widowhood through the prism of race, mixed marriage, and aging, Black Widow redefines the stages of grief, from coffin shopping to day-drinking, to being a grown-ass woman crying for your mommy, to breaking up and making up with God, to facing the fact that life goes on even after the death of the person you were supposed to live it with. While she stumbles toward an uncertain future as a single mother raising a baby with her own widowed mother (plot twist!), Leslie looks back on her love story with Scott, recounting their journey through racism, religious differences, and persistent confusion about what kugel is. Will she find the strength to finish the most important thing that she and Scott started?
Tender, true, and endearingly hilarious, Black Widow is a story about the power of love, and how the only guide book for recovery is the one you write yourself.
- LanguageEnglish
- PublisherLittle, Brown and Company
- Publication dateMarch 10, 2020
- File size2403 KB
Editorial Reviews
Review
"Tender, clever, and endearing, this story of love and loss will have you alternating between laughter and tears. Leslie's mix of break-it-down humor and heartbreaking truth make this book playful and deep in all the right places."―Tembi Locke, New York Timesbestselling author of From Scratch
"So often, readers feel it's not okay to laugh in times of grief, but Streeter not only reminds us its okay, she encourages it. Black Widow has earned a place on the shelf next to Joan Didion and Cheryl Strayed in the realm of the grief memoir."―Booklist
"Black Widow is a beautiful love story that also happens to be a grief story. Leslie Gray Streeter tells the whole tale-falling in love, marriage, adopting, parenthood, death, moving on-with her captivating wit. Only she could make Black Widow so deeply moving, painfully funny, altogether unforgettable."―Rob Sheffield, author of Dreaming the Beatles and Love is a Mix Tape
"Black Widow is a very special one of a kind book, a wonderfully touching love story that will make you laugh and cry, sometimes on the same page. Even more outstanding is Leslie Gray Streeter's voice. You won't soon forget Black Widow."―James Patterson
"Grief is a heavy darkness with spots of unexpected, unpredictable light. Leslie's book is a light for those still stuck in the dark--a sad, funny, personal story filled with universal truths about life and love and loss."―Nora McInerny, author of The Hot Young Widows Club and No Happy Endings
"I can only marvel at Leslie Streeter's resilience, humor, and candor. Black Widow is a funny, heartwarming read about one of the worst things that can happen to a person. We should all be this grounded in our day-to-day lives."―Laura Lippman, NewYork Times bestselling author of Ladyin the Lake
"When Streeter's husband died, leaving her to raise their baby with her mother, also a widow, the journalist and playwright was plunged into a new, surprisingly funny life of coffin shopping and staring down racism."―Glamour
"This hopeful account will appeal to readers who enjoy stories of resiliency and new life chapters."―Publishers Weekly
A laugh-out-loud book for women who aren't ready to navigate widowhood in the traditional way.―New York Post
"This is a great read for anyone who's suffered loss of a loved one. I'd say it's chicken soup for any soul in grief. Anyone who reads this will undoubtedly feel consoled."―Aphrodite Jones
"I can't recommend this book enough. It made me realize how much I love my family and that LOVE conquers all."―Johnathon Schaech
"In her seriocomic debut, Palm Beach Post entertainment columnist Streeter pays tribute to her husband, Scott, by sharing detailed stories about their life together and her many struggles dealing with his death...Streeter's candid exploration will resonate with those who have dealt with similar circumstances. A love-filled eulogy to a beloved husband and the special times the couple shared before he died."―Kirkus
"If this book title isn't already a knockout to you, then I don't know what to say. But in all seriousness, humor is necessary to survive grief, and Leslie Gray Streeter imbues her memoir of losing her husband with just that. A love story that contemplates death, race, and single motherhood, Streeter's book is not something to gloss over."―San Francisco Weekly
"Using humor and a powerful narrative, Streeter guides us into an unexpected life of widowhood, single motherhood, and newfound wisdom."―Palm Beach Daily News
About the Author
Product details
- ASIN : B07V31SVNX
- Publisher : Little, Brown and Company (March 10, 2020)
- Publication date : March 10, 2020
- Language : English
- File size : 2403 KB
- Text-to-Speech : Enabled
- Screen Reader : Supported
- Enhanced typesetting : Enabled
- X-Ray : Not Enabled
- Word Wise : Enabled
- Print length : 273 pages
- Best Sellers Rank: #3,936,465 in Kindle Store (See Top 100 in Kindle Store)
- Customer Reviews:
About the author
Discover more of the author’s books, see similar authors, read book recommendations and more.
Customer reviews
Customer Reviews, including Product Star Ratings help customers to learn more about the product and decide whether it is the right product for them.
To calculate the overall star rating and percentage breakdown by star, we don’t use a simple average. Instead, our system considers things like how recent a review is and if the reviewer bought the item on Amazon. It also analyzed reviews to verify trustworthiness.
Learn more how customers reviews work on AmazonCustomers say
Customers find the story relatable, honest, and touching. They describe the book as heartwarming, funny, and a great read. Readers also mention it's worth it and a great book for anyone who has experienced grief.
AI-generated from the text of customer reviews
Customers find the story warm, sincere, and relatable. They appreciate the author's honesty, touching, and realistic descriptions of losing a person. Readers also describe the book as inspiring, lovely, and excellent.
"...It may sound morbid, but the author is skillful and upbeat and very, very, funny...." Read more
"...This book was a quick read and every word was true and from her heart. It was an honor to meet Leslie and we feel like we knew Scott." Read more
"...Her writing is very real and relatable, which means that when she takes you on her journey—through childhood; career; couplehood, growing family;..." Read more
"...The need of survival for the sake of your children. She tells it well. She gets it as no one that has not been through it ever will." Read more
Customers find the book heartwarming, humorous, and upbeat. They say it's a raw look into emotions that makes them laugh and cry.
"...It may sound morbid, but the author is skillful and upbeat and very, very, funny...." Read more
"Black Widow is funny and sad all wrapped into an author's first memoir...." Read more
"...otherwise, and parts of the story are harrowing, the book is ultimately uplifting And hopeful...." Read more
"...A heartbreaking and hilarious work of emotional genius - yeah, maybe that's better...." Read more
Customers find the book excellent, wonderful, and funny. They say it's a great book for anyone who has experienced grief. Readers also mention the book is fun to read, sad, and hopeful.
"...I highly recommend this book - it’s a fast read - we read it for our Book Group and even invited the author to attend our Zoom discussion...." Read more
"...This book was a quick read and every word was true and from her heart. It was an honor to meet Leslie and we feel like we knew Scott." Read more
"...Streeter’s writing is so approachable that you can devour the book quickly, yet the story will stick with you." Read more
"...I couldn’t put the book down. It was a quick read and I do hope like other reviewers have said that we get the chance to learn more of her story...." Read more
Reviews with images
Read. Laugh. Cry.
-
Top reviews
Top reviews from the United States
There was a problem filtering reviews right now. Please try again later.
As we end this crazy period of our history - this is an excellent read. It’s about a black Baptist woman married to the love of her life, a white Jewish guy and then he drops dead (when they’re in their early 40s!) and did I mention that they’re in the process of adopting a child as she is processing her grief?!? It may sound morbid, but the author is skillful and upbeat and very, very, funny. She has the gift of being able to observe the absurdities in her crazy life and as the reader we laugh along with her as we gain a deeper understanding of all of these different components of her life.
I highly recommend this book - it’s a fast read - we read it for our Book Group and even invited the author to attend our Zoom discussion. Her positive energy and sense of humor is as authentic on Zoom as it is in her pages. This is a perfect book after we complete a year of COVID; it gives us permission to discover the humor and laugh at the oddities that happen to happen us when misery is around us.
Other reviewers have noted how they alternately laughed and cried throughout the book. They are so right! I recognized The Bad News Room, the idiosyncrasies of mixed-race/religion families, and the struggles of trying to become a parent from my own life. But the strength, grace, and screwball goofiness that Streeter used to survive her experiences and so revealingly share them with her readers are inspiring and entertaining.
As a pop culture reporter and columnist, Streeter has an enthusiastic fan club in South Florida and other places where she has worked. It is delightful that the rest of the world will get to know her now with this gem, the first of hopefully many books.
Although the title may give the impression otherwise, and parts of the story are harrowing, the book is ultimately uplifting And hopeful. Streeter’s writing is so approachable that you can devour the book quickly, yet the story will stick with you.
What Streeter accomplishes with her debut book is nothing short of profound. In telling the story of her incredible love and loss, adaptation and triumphant adoption, she goes diving into the wreck (Adrienne Rich-style) and shines a light on all of it. All of it! There are dark terrifying things, dark hilarious things, the absurd, the unknown, and the super-familiar. Luckily for the reader, Streeter's many years of experience as an entertainment columnist empower the crafting of her own narrative in a way that makes you feel like you're recieving it all next to her on a stool at the bar. It's not necessarily a comfortable stool, but once the story begins you're not going anywhere.