This collection is saturated with grief and wistfulness. So much of what’s happening here is death: of a family member, of a friend, of a relationship. At some point I have begun thinking that perhaps the death of a beloved is the death of love. After the death of others we must simply go on, live our lives as we continue to keep them in memory and make occasional quips in order to lighten our burdens. Isabela Banzon puts sadness into words pretty well in this book.