Review of “Jar of Tears” by Kathleen Templeton

Score: 95/100 (9.5 out of 10)

Jar of Tears is a heartwrenching and powerful novel concerning childhood loss, coping, and grief by Kathleen Templeton!

The book follows Miracle Reid (usually just called “Mira” for short) a young girl whose beloved mother, Violet Elizabeth Reid, has recently passed away from cancer. Mira, who believes that mothers can't die until they reach old age, attends the “fake funeral” in complete denial and with heavy skepticism. The novel follows Mira through every step and every stage of grief: denial, anger, bargaining, depression, and acceptance.

Now, with that said, these stages are never portrayed in a tacked-on or contrived way. There's never a time when we thought that a section of the book was unnecessary or felt artificial. In fact, the opposite. Every moment of this book seems organic, natural, meaningful, and necessary. Every word and page seems organic, natural, meaningful, and necessary.

The author made such an extraordinary good use of time. They struck such a perfect balance between time, pacing, and substance. In fact, the first thing we thought when completing this book was, “WOW! That was a pretty dang decent book! Great length too!” It never seems drawn out or outstays its welcome, which is a problem we're noticing with a lot of books this season—they just drag and go on too long. That's not a problem with this book.

This book doesn't waste any time introducing us to Mira and the fact that her mom is undeniably, irreversibly dead. That fact hits you like a sack of bricks, and it should. The finality of it is clear, even when Mira keeps insisting that her mother is still alive. While this came across as annoying and childish initially, we slowly gained an understanding and appreciation for Mira's feelings and her fragile mental state. This is going to sound like a strange comparison, but we contrasted the way that Mira (a little girl) handled trauma with the way that Peggy (an adult) from Dream Me Home treated her trauma. With that in mind, Mira was a lot less annoying and a lot more relatable. You might remember us being annoyed with how Peggy was airheaded, scatterbrained, and made extremely poor decisions (and was an extremely bad judge of character) after her trauma. Well, Mira has a right to be naive—she's a little girl who has just lost the love of her life!

What's more? Well, it's clear that the author drew from her own personal experiences, losing her mother in a similar manner at the age of nine. Templeton was able to genuinely and authentically portray her experiences—experiences which are sure to resonate with people who've experienced similar things.

And that's probably the best thing about this book: how genuine and authentic it feels. It doesn't care if Mira might seem annoying or unlikable for the first part of the book. Are you likable all the time, 100% of the time? Is this an election for Most Likable?

No. Rather, the author simply portrays Mira, her thoughts, and her feelings AS IS—just as they are. No filter. No censor. No restrictions. No second or third opinions. No committee. Just Mira.

And there's power to that. There's power to reading and hearing the thoughts of a child in her darkest, saddest hour. It doesn't read like an adult writing or interpreting this information. It actually sounds like a child talking to us, telling us how she feels and why she thinks she feels it.
Mira is crushed by the loss of her mother. It's a bit of double-whammy as she's forced to move, leaving behind her childhood best friend and home. She does everything in her power—everything in her little hands –to preserve what she had. She cherishes the smell of her mother in the linen, even if it smells a bit like the onions she cooked with. She cherishes her mother's voice in the voicemail. So, when both of these things are taken from her—when the linens are washed and when her mother's phone number is no longer in service—its absolutely devastating. And we feel every ounce of that devastation along with her.

Giving the book its name, Mira begins filling a jar of tears, a little empty jar that she cries into. Her goal becomes to cry and fill it with so many tears that she can somehow bargain with God to give her mother back. However, we all know that isn't going to happen. Not in the way she hopes.

However, not only does this highlight Mira in the bargaining stage of grief, but it also highlights something that was extremely important to Mira's mother: her Christian faith. It's said that Mira's mother would sing Christian music in the car all the time, even to the embarrassment of her daughter. Violet Reid had faith and had hope—a hope of an afterlife in heaven with God. This is something that haunts and lingers with Mira, seemingly taunting and also encouraging/motivating her.

Mira is a huge crisis of faith, blaming God for what happened to her mom and for her continued hurt, sadness, and suffering. She begins to view God as cruel and uncaring.

What's incredible is that God's love is allowed to be demonstrated in the form of the many people who reach out to Mira to show her love. They teach her that God's love often works through unexpected people and in unexpected ways. She also learns that terrible things happen for a reason. We see what impact this has on Mira as she uses her personal experiences to help people like Landon to overcome their own grief and find peace and happiness in their lives again. It encourages Jessica's biological daughter, Olivia, to value and respect her mother more after one scene. Mira is also inspired/encouraged to pursue art and even enter the art contest that her mother was so excited about—things that may have not happened had Violet not died.

Now, Mira's experiences seem mostly miserable until a wonderful woman at the school named Mrs. Davis approaches her with empathy , compassion, and—perhaps most important of all—understanding. Rather than viewing Mira as a hot mess like others do, Mrs. Davis views Mira as a kind of kindred spirit—someone whose sadness and suffering is linked to and similar to her own. Mrs. Davis gives her a shoulder to cry on, but also—most importantly—an ear to talk to and to express her deepest, darkest feelings and emotions without fear of judgment or retribution.

Mrs. Davis may be a candidate for Best Supporting Character! Her impact on the course of the story is paramount.

It's a reminder that a little patience and kindness can go a long way in changing a person's life. It changes Mira's perspective from feeling like a crazy person and a victim to feeling like someone with relatable feelings/experiences and a future.

It's awesome to see Mira slowly but surely evolve and even act out, even playing a prank after learning that it was something her mother was once known for. The message is clear: it's not over. It might seem like it's over, but the world keeps turning and the sun keeps burning.

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