By Hilma Wolitzer

There are no two ways around it: Hilma Wolitzer’s highly acclaimed debut novel is sad. If the title didn’t alert you to that fact, then allow us to make it clear: This one is about endings, namely death and surviving the deaths of the ones we love. Not that This Is Us is super sad ALL the time (although we don’t dare watch without the Kleenex within reach), but it does remind us of Becca and Jack’s tragic loss, as well as the one Randall will inevitably face with his birth father’s sickness.