Grief

This novel begins a few months after Ruby has died. Jack Stokes has just finished eating the food Ruby has stored away for him and is beginning to wonder what he will do for meals from that point on. Jack is so fixated on the problem that it keeps him from missing his wife too much. It does not, however, keep the memories at bay. Jack recalls his wife, beginning with the day he met her and moving through until the last time he saw her before her death. Jack remembers her with fondness and a little anger. Jack remembers how Ruby asked for a cigarette just hours before she passed away and how he felt obliged to hide her tobacco-stained fingers before the funeral. These things fill Jack with anger and keep him distracted from missing his wife. Anger is a healthy part of the grieving process...