The Crying Room (2023), by Gretchen Shirm

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The Crying Room is Gretchen Shirm’s second novel: you can read my review of Where the Light Falls (2016) here. The novels share similar preoccupations: failures of communication, mismatched personalities and an enigmatic disappearance that leaves damaged people in its wake.  But though both novels are quiet, reflective meditations that reveal the inner worlds of introspective characters, The Crying Room begins with a striking evocation of the commodification of grief in our time.

The Crying Room is literally, just that.  Susie, who cries easily, is employed to monitor people who use it, who come in to shed their tears and then leave.  She intervenes only if someone comes in on three consecutive days because it is her job to determine whether or not these recurrent visitors would benefit from counselling sessions.  There is…