Colleen Hoover’s 2022, 1.1 million copies sold book ‘Reminders of Him’ talks about many serious topics. Covering topics such as grief, blame, forgiveness, depression, and love.
Colleen Hoover thoughtfully focused on grief and depression through heavy topics such as death and child custody. These events are events that happen in the real world, so the importance of Colleen Hoover bringing truthful and unsugarcoated awareness was very important.
Depression is a major topic within ‘Reminders of Him’. Major Depression approximately affects 17.3 million American adults. (National Institute of Mental Health “Major Depression”, 2017) Depression is the cause of two thirds of suicides yearly. (White House Conference on Mental Health, 1999)
These statistics show why talking about depression within books in a real way is very important. The best ways to help with today's depression crisis: Spreading awareness, Being aware, and providing resources of self-help. ‘Reminders of Him’ covers all three of those.
‘Reminders of Him’ also focuses a lot on grief. Complicated grief is something that affects 10%-20% of grievers. (Krull et al.) Complicated grief occurs when one isn’t able to fully experience the levels of grief. Making the individual get stuck in denial, depression, anger, or shock.
This was the case in ‘Reminders of Him’, Kenna due to her imprisonment and blame got stuck in a deep depression. Kenna continuously blamed herself until she was able to forgive herself and realize that her thoughts of her late lover weren't sad but happy.
Colleen Hoover did an amazing job at representing depression, grief, and pain through her writing in ‘Reminders of Him’. Books are a big ‘therapy’ for many people so this book definitely was a safe spot for many.
If you're looking for other books written by Colleen Hoover covering similar topics there are: ‘Without Merit’, ‘It ends with us’ , and ‘Verity’.
Works Cited
“Depression Statistics.” Depression and Bipolar Support Alliance, https://www.dbsalliance.org/education/depression/statistics/. Accessed 21 April 2023.
Krull, Erika, et al. “Grief By The Numbers: Facts and Statistics on Grief in Adults and Children.” The Recovery Village, 26 May 2022, https://www.therecoveryvillage.com/mental-health/grief/grief-statistics/. Accessed 21 April 2023.
Stewart, Sophia. “PW 2022 Notable: Colleen Hoover.” Publishers Weekly, 16 December 2022, https://www.publishersweekly.com/pw/by-topic/industry-news/people/article/91165-pw-2022-notable-colleen-hoover.html. Accessed 19 April 2023.
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