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Reviews tagging 'Addiction'
Tiny Beautiful Things: Advice on Love and Life from Someone Who's Been There by Cheryl Strayed
27 reviews
bookmarkedtbr's review against another edition
5.0
Minor: Ableism, Addiction, Alcoholism, Child abuse, Child death, Cursing, Death, Domestic abuse, Drug abuse, Drug use, Eating disorder, Emotional abuse, Fatphobia, Homophobia, Incest, Infidelity, Mental illness, Physical abuse, Rape, Self harm, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Toxic relationship, Grief, Abortion, Death of parent, Gaslighting, Toxic friendship, Alcohol, and Pandemic/Epidemic
cosmic_blooms's review against another edition
4.0
Graphic: Addiction, Child abuse, Death, Sexual content, and Grief
Moderate: Alcoholism, Cursing, Drug use, Fatphobia, Incest, Mental illness, Physical abuse, Rape, Self harm, Suicide, Toxic relationship, Pregnancy, and Toxic friendship
siobhanward's review against another edition
3.0
I'll be entirely honest - I started off thinking this was going to be an awful read. I don't read a lot of advice columns (any to be honest), so I'm not sure the usual style. I really wasn't sure how to feel when Strayed went on a tangent about her work as a youth advocate while responding to someone who had suffered a stillbirth - I get giving context, but it felt like hijacking the response to talk about herself. It also felt at times like things were just over simplified - do this one small thing and everything will be fixed.
However, the book got so much stronger at the end. The response about the future being uncertain and her mother buying a dress for a grandchild she never met struck me. The story about Brandon and the angry boys had me weeping. Strayed's advice to herself in her twenties was raw and real. I just wish every answer in the book had been as great as those ones, because Strayed has great advice and great style - it's just not always consistent.
Graphic: Death of parent
Moderate: Addiction, Miscarriage, Toxic relationship, Toxic friendship, and Alcohol
bootsmom3's review against another edition
3.0
Moderate: Addiction, Cancer, Child death, Cursing, Death, Domestic abuse, Drug abuse, Drug use, Eating disorder, Emotional abuse, Homophobia, Infidelity, Mental illness, Miscarriage, Sexual content, Suicidal thoughts, Terminal illness, Toxic relationship, Grief, Death of parent, Toxic friendship, and Dysphoria
questingnotcoasting's review against another edition
4.0
Graphic: Addiction, Alcoholism, Child abuse, Child death, Death, Drug abuse, Homophobia, Infidelity, Mental illness, Miscarriage, Pedophilia, Physical abuse, Sexual assault, Suicidal thoughts, Terminal illness, Toxic relationship, Violence, Grief, Medical trauma, Death of parent, Toxic friendship, Abandonment, and Alcohol
iamnita's review against another edition
5.0
Minor: Addiction, Alcoholism, Cancer, Child death, Cursing, Death, Domestic abuse, Drug abuse, Eating disorder, Emotional abuse, Infertility, Infidelity, Mental illness, Miscarriage, Physical abuse, Rape, Sexual assault, Suicidal thoughts, Terminal illness, Toxic relationship, Grief, Stalking, Death of parent, Murder, Pregnancy, and Toxic friendship
smoladeryn's review against another edition
5.0
Content Warning: abuse
I don’t read “self help” I thought as I grabbed this from a shelf on the way out of my beautiful home that I didn’t want to leave. I was fleeing an abusive relationship of 16 years when this book jumped out at me—no doubt given by his mother that he never read—like so many books of this kind.
I don’t know why I took it. I hadn’t been able to read much in 8 years-- the second half of our relationship. I also really didn’t read “self help” or even memoirs. I never read Sugar’s column, although I did read TheRumpus, I didn’t know that’s where it came from at the time.
I saw the ugly orange cover, read the title that seemed so overwrought (honestly), and picked it up in my already much too full hands with my cat and as many “important” possessions as I could take.
I was terrified that day and I was terrified for weeks, months still. I was homeless for 2 months, but not the kind of homelessness I experienced in my early 20s. It was the kind where I had to stay in a horror story air bnb, a hotel, and then a dank and noisy basement I paid way too much for.
In each place I unpacked this book and put it next to where I slept. I didn’t read it. When I got to my noisy and deeply lonely new rental apartment in the heart of downtown, I put it next to my pillow and didn’t read it.
One day about 4 months into this “new life”, after the homeless period, I started reading it.
I’ve wept at nearly every letter. Before I started reading this collection, that no doubt my ex-mother-in-law gave to her stubborn and abusive son that refuses to look inward, she picked a fight with me. The details aren’t important, but she said some of the most hurtful and painful things anyone has ever said, even more so than my own horribly abusive family.
I don’t know if I finally read this out of stubbornness (spite?) myself but all I know is Tiny Beautiful Things is the thing that started my healing. I’m still healing.
There were times I didn’t read this book, and times I devoured 3 letters at once. There were times I had to process a letter for what seemed like an eternity before I could bare to pick up the weight of it again. Then, there were times where this book sat in a bag on my back, light as a feather, and as warm as a familiar friend.
Tiny Beautiful Things is one of those Things itself. The phrase comes from the description of a sweet purple balloon. It might not be the sweet balloon Sugar describes, but there are times where it is. And she is right—it is something we all deserve.
I kept a journal of endless quotes. I was going to post them as a review which is what I usually do, but those quotes are important mostly to me, probably.
Graphic: Addiction, Child abuse, Death, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Homophobia, Infidelity, Mental illness, Misogyny, Sexism, Sexual content, Terminal illness, Toxic relationship, Death of parent, Gaslighting, Toxic friendship, Abandonment, and Classism
Moderate: Addiction, Bullying, Cancer, Cursing, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Infertility, Physical abuse, Sexual assault, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Violence, Dementia, Grief, Pregnancy, Sexual harassment, and Dysphoria
msagerber's review against another edition
4.75
Graphic: Addiction, Child abuse, Cursing, Death, Infertility, Mental illness, Pedophilia, Sexual assault, Suicidal thoughts, Toxic relationship, Grief, and Toxic friendship
I'm probably missing trigger warnings - this book has pretty much every trigger warning there is. It is sometimes very difficult to read, yet somehow Cheryl Strayed's responses make it still seem hopeful. Like we can all muddle through the pain called living and find a way to still feel purpose and connection. I have read this, listened to it, and read it again. My physical copy is practically disintegrating. I can't say enough about how much this book has spoke to me.emilyinherhead's review against another edition
5.0
"I'll never know, and neither will you of the life you don't choose. We'll only know that whatever that sister life was, it was important and beautiful and not ours. It was the ghost ship that didn't carry us. There's nothing to do but salute it from the shore."
This book is a warm, reassuring hug. Obviously not every letter and response will be directly relatable to every reader, but Sugar answers such a wide variety of people that there's bound to be something here that speaks to you.
I found myself tearing up a few different times, just at how thoughtful and tender Cheryl Strayed's advice is, how stern but also how gentle her voice. She obviously cares very much about everyone who writes to her, and a lot about her own life comes out in the process of writing back, which makes her even more admirable and trustworthy as someone giving counsel to others. She's been there, she gets it, and she wants better for you. Her writing is also excellent on a language level—I wrote down a few sentences to remember just because they were beautiful.
This book is one I've had on my shelf for a while. I'm so glad I finally read it, and I will absolutely be revisiting it in the future whenever I need another dose of Sugar's wisdom.
Moderate: Addiction
Minor: Domestic abuse
missconflictedcontradiction's review against another edition
4.75
Graphic: Addiction and Physical abuse