Book Abstracts

• DOI: http://doi.org/10.1111/j.1741-3729.2000.00227.x
• Published date: 01 April 2000
• Date: 01 April 2000

2000, Vol. 49, No. 2 227

Book Abstracts

Boss, P. (1999). Ambiguous Loss. Cambridge, MA: Harvard

University Press. 140 pages. Hardcover ISBN 0-674-01738-

2, price $22.00.

What does a family do when the whereabouts of a loved

one is unknown? How does a family cope when a member is

physically present but psychologically absent as in cases of Alz-

heimer’s disease? Is a non-custodial parent in or out of the family

following divorce? In this book, Pauline Boss provides an in-

sightful and poignant look at one of the most difficult problems

families can face—coping with ‘‘ambiguous loss.’’ ‘‘Ambiguous

loss’’ refers to vague and uncertain losses families experience

regarding a member’s presence or absence. Pauline Boss does an

outstanding job of portraying these family situations that often

leave members feeling confused, uncertain, and devastated.

Ambiguous Loss is written in a down-to-earth style that is

accessible to practitioners and families experiencing such loss.

Boss shares many personal examples from her own family life

regarding the ambiguous losses associated with being an immi-

grant family. She also shares many of the insights she has

gleaned from her research and clinical work with families ex-

periencing ambiguous situations, such as pilots missing in action,

adoption, Alzheimer’s, and divorce.

Each chapter explores different aspects of ambiguous loss.

The book begins by explaining ambiguous loss and some of its

devastating effects. The second chapter describes families in

which a member is psychologically present but physically ab-

sent, while the third chapter describes families in which a mem-

ber is physically present but psychologically absent. Chapter 4

introduces the concept of ambivalence and examines the effects

of mixed emotions on the situation. The fifth chapter describes

the ‘‘ups and downs’’ of ambiguous loss and issues pertaining

to denial. Chapter 6 examines the family’s process of making a

‘‘guess’’ about the situation’s outcome. Chapter 7 discusses the

point at which families change the way they see the situation

and begin to take action, while chapter 8 discusses the challenges

families face in making sense out of the loss. The book ends

with an examination of the growth that can come from ambig-

uous loss and sounds a note of encouragement and hope for these

families.

This book would be beneficial to therapists and family ed-

ucators who work with families experiencing various kinds of

loss, as well as to the families themselves. Many of the appli-

cations in the book are therapeutic in nature; however, other

family practitioners who do not work in a clinical setting would

certainly benefit from reading the book and could find ways to

implement these ideas in other settings. Additionally, in taking

a family-stress perspective in her work, Boss has clearly added

an important paradigm to the area of family stress and coping.

TROY D. STUART

Doctoral Student

School of Human Ecology

Louisiana State University

Fullilove, M. T. (1999). The House of Joshua: Meditations on

Family and Place. Lincoln, NE: University of Nebraska

Press. 160 pages. Hardcover ISBN 0-8032-2007-3, price

$20.00.

Mindy Thompson Fullilove argues that the human struggles

for identity and a sense of belonging are inseparably linked to

one’s immediate surroundings throughout the life course. Having

a place in which one feels free to explore one’s individuality and

to develop lasting relationships is necessary for psychological

well-being. The House of Joshua helps clarify the oft-neglected

role of place in such processes, exemplifies the devastation of

personal dislocation, and provides models for establishing and

maintaining connections to a meaningful ‘‘homeplace.’’

Fullilove begins her book with a synthesis of personal ob-

servation, literature, and social theory. She draws upon ideas

from psychiatrists such as John Bowlby and Alexander Leighton,

sociologist Kai Erikson, anthropologist Anthony Wall, and others

from a variety of professions to shape her rationale. Fullilove

hopes to generate an appreciation of place that will lead to in-

creased societal connectedness.

The greater part of this volume is a collection of nine stories

told by the author as she reflects back upon the course of her

life. Fullilove garnishes her vivid depictions with references to

family mementos (journals, letters) and analytical commentary

to illuminate critical aspects of ‘‘the psychology of place,’’ as

well as the complexity of family dynamics as they relate to place.

She begins with her father, who, in the 1950s, was the firstBlack

union organizer for the corporation for which he worked. After

losing his job, he ‘‘retreated’’ to the ghettos of New Jersey,

where he organized civil rights coalitions. The second chapter

reveals the rejection Fullilove felt from her mother’s parents,

who refused to leave their White, suburban neighborhood to visit

their daughter and their daughter’s black husband and biracial

children (Fullilove and her brother). The little girl was even more

perplexed to see mommy leave on a yearly excursion to her

parents’ hometown, where she, her brother and father (and even

talk of them in her parents’ neighborhood) were unwelcome.

The third story focuses on Fullilove as a young student told

to attend the predominantly White high school that her parents

fought so hard to desegregate. The uprooted child consequently

learned to search inward for support and pleasure instead of

reaching out toward others. The next story introduces a local

family who provided the nurturance and acceptance that this

young, biracial girl lacked from her community. The family’s

house, which Fullilove imagined to be ideal for hiding runaway

slaves as part of the historic Underground Railroad, became her

home away from home. The fifth story traces her journeys

through medical school, where her efforts to find a place, despite

sexism and racism, aided her in developing a personal credo that

would guide her course into the medical field.

The author’s experiences with her second husband and their

four children make up the last three stories. For example, their

two adopted children, faced with issues of abandonment by birth

parents, struggled to find their own sense of belonging in the