New Pages offers this review of, “The Departure,” published in the Summer, 2012 issue of The Gettysburg Review: “Rebecca Gummere’s essay “The Departure” presents an ending of a lifetime in measured detail. Gummere paces the narrative with classical breaks, such as the section titled “Con Amore—With Love,” that begins “Nothing seems real. We are weeping; we are like lost children.” Gummere portrays the loss in ordered segments, but toward the end of the essay, you are so emotionally involved with the snapshots of loss that her essay becomes a mastery of continuity.”
