Death Becomes Us

Liz Levine is an expert in death. The writer, director, and producer — best known for her work on Kyra Sedgwick’s Story of a Girl and Douglas Coupland’s JPod — lost both her maternal grandparents, a sister (to stillbirth), and several friends before she even finished high school. The loss has only continued into adulthood: “I’ve been to more funerals than I am years old. And given more eulogies than most people will in a lifetime.”

Nobody Ever Talks about Anything but the End is primarily about two of those deaths: Levine’s sister Tamara, to suicide, and her first love turned best friend Judson, to Burkitt’s leukemia. With a fragmented structure and chronology, not unlike memories of loved ones lost, the book explores Levine’s relationships with Tamara, with Judson, and with her own feelings. From “Teflon” avoidance to acceptance and vulnerability, her internal...