Why can’t Americans cope with trauma?

After her mother died, poet and writer MEGHAN O’ROURKE found that grief was an isolating force. The lack of public discussion and ritual surrounding death is recounted in her memoir, The Long Goodbye. 2015 Global Thinker HANYA YANAGIHARA also explores the messiness of sorrow in her acclaimed novel, A Little Life. Her protagonist is a man haunted relentlessly by childhood abuse but supported by a nontraditional family. O’Rourke and Yanagihara met recently to discuss