What do readers think of Ten Minutes from Home by Beth Greenfield? Write your own review.

This memoir, written through the eyes of a young girl and eventually a young woman, evoked considerable emotion on the part of this reviewer. Having had a dear friend go through a similar situation this past year, made this book an arduous read. Greenfield handles this topic of incredible sorrow with lyricism and poise that made a difficult subject bearable. "Ten Minutes from Home" takes you through Beth’s feelings of tragedy, remorse, hope, courage, and finally ends with a peace she so richly deserves...yes, even when we don't expect it, there is light at the end of the tunnel.

This book stirs your emotions in a way that not many books usually do. I found myself feeling a lot of the pain that Beth and her family were experiencing through the excellent characterization and description of their emotional state. This is a book especially for those who want to try and understand the feelings of loss that people might have following the death of a loved one. Beth clearly describes the difficulties of dealing with not only the loss but the possible guilt of being a survivor and feeling responsible for providing support to other family members and friends suffering from the same loss. I have always felt uncomfortable in talking to someone who has suffered a deep loss and through Beth's book I think I will have a better understanding of how to respond. I would also like to commend Beth Greenfield on being able to put this painful memory into a story that can help not only herself but other people in similar situations see the way to recovery.

I really enjoyed this book. While I knew it was a memoir, the book flowed like a fiction novel. It really explored what happens to families after tragedy strikes. It was really interesting to see how those involved dealt with the tragedy and continued with their lives. I would definitely recommend this book. I also think it would be an interesting book for a book club.

As the title says, the author was ten minutes from her home when, at 12 years old, she was involved in a car crash which killed her younger brother and also her best friend. She herself was injured and spent some months recuperating. The author does an excellent job describing poignantly and openly how these deaths affected her as she navigated her way through junior high and high school. She also relates some of how her parents grieved and how that affected the family dynamics. I found the book to be very moving and interesting. I only wish that I knew how the author is doing today, how this event is playing out in her adult life. I would definitely recommend this book as valuable reading.

I almost quit reading this book detailing the searing grief when the author's brother and best friend are killed in a car accident. It was overwhelming to read the devastation of the loss in her family. I could only read in small snatches, although there was something compelling that kept bringing me back to read more. This book might be a panacea to someone who has suffered a similar loss.

Because it deals with a tragic auto accident in which two young people die and its ripple effects on several families, Ten Minutes from Home is almost too painful to contemplate, but it’s worth pursuing as it’s a gripping account of this event. This memoir answers any questions we might have about how a fatal accident forever impacts all those involved, from the actual day of the deaths through support groups and beyond. Beth Greenfield uses clear, crisp narration with specific journalistic details that give the reader the sense of being right in the midst of the process as each person faces, then deals with their losses.

I was drawn into this book immediately and could hardly put it down. Beth Greenfield's writing is honest and raw, and I think she did an excellent job of relating her feelings as a young teen. It was hard to read that her parents were too bereft to help her, and that family counseling never happened. I wish the book had been longer and had filled in the intervening years, explaining how she had pulled out of her destructive behaviors. I hope she plans another book.

Beth Greenfield can certainly write. She is able to exorcise emotions from her early adolescence with both compassion for her young self and a relentless, brutal honesty. Readers may find solace in her deeply personal reactions to the death of her brother and friend as Greenfield struggles with anger towards her devastated mother. Recommended for readers of memoirs and for those seeking to cope with their own grief.