Sloane Crosley

Sloane Crosley occupies a dual position in Grief Is for People as both its author and its central subject. The memoir is shaped by her voice, perspective, and particular experience of grief, and it reflects her tendency toward both sharp self-awareness and notable blind spots. Crosley is an astute observer of her own irrational behavior, particularly in the wake of the burglary, yet there are areas, especially when it comes to the legacy of her friend Russell, where her judgment falters.

As narrator, Crosley is reflective and candid about her emotional instability following Russell’s suicide. The present-tense narration of the burglary and the obsessive hunt to retrieve her stolen jewelry is deliberately constructed to show the reader a version of herself who is spiraling, even as the authorial voice calmly dissects that spiral with distance and clarity. She portrays her former self as someone consumed...