Reviews

Tiny Beautiful Things: Advice on Love and Life from Dear Sugar by Cheryl Strayed

samarock's review against another edition

challenging hopeful informative inspiring slow-paced

4.25

haushinkuh's review against another edition

emotional hopeful informative inspiring reflective medium-paced

4.0

waytoomanybooks's review against another edition

challenging emotional funny hopeful inspiring lighthearted reflective sad fast-paced

5.0

Love love love this book. It’s cliche, but it really did make me both laugh and cry. This memoir came to me at exactly the right time and place in my life. I only ever hold on to books I rate five stars, and this one has earned its place. Sugar/Cheryl kindly, lovingly, and patiently gives advice, which stems from stories from her own personal life. She is as vulnerable with her readers as her readers are with her. It feels like I’m reading a conversation between two friends.

There are two quotes towards the end of the memoir that I feel capture the essence of the advice Sugar/Cheryl gives:

“It was a becoming that I would not have dreamed was mine” (323)

“Your life will be a great and continous unfolding” (351).

I highly recommend this book. And if you like this one, then you will also love How to be a Person in the World by Heather Havrilesky/Ask Polly.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Mental illness and Grief

Moderate: Death, Death of parent, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Homophobia, Infertility, Misogyny, Drug abuse, Medical trauma, Transphobia, Sexual harassment, Sexual violence, Toxic relationship, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Toxic friendship, Body shaming, Child abuse, Addiction, Alcoholism, Child death, Cursing, Pregnancy, Racism, Self harm, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide attempt, Terminal illness, Injury/Injury detail, Miscarriage, Sexism, Violence, Pedophilia, Panic attacks/disorders, Rape, Abandonment, Drug use, Eating disorder, Animal cruelty, Animal death, Bullying, Dysphoria, Infidelity, Physical abuse, Abortion, Chronic illness, Classism, Fatphobia, Medical content, and Suicide

montsegc90's review against another edition

4.0

Debo ser honesta, no tenía ganas de leer este libro... una columna de consejos? Mmm no gracias, pero gracias al bookclub dije pues a darle.... y que geniaaaaaaal estuvo la experiencia, pq no solo es la lectura de problemas ajenos y sus soluciones menos ajenas, sino lo que evoca, transmite y transmuta en uno. Muuuy recomendable, como dijo mi amiga que lo escogió, este sería el libro que le regalaría a todo mundo. Y si, todos nos podemos llevar MINIMO una enseñanza.

johanna_thehissilent's review against another edition

Depressing

larissakoedood's review

emotional funny hopeful informative inspiring reflective medium-paced

5.0

nancyboy's review against another edition

3.0

"To go to a bookstore and buy ten books of poetry and read them each five times. Why? Because the truth is inside."

maybe the best advice someone can ever give you.

this is not normally the type of nonfiction i tend to read and i'm surprised i liked it. even if you dont like advice at times, you can tell it comes from such a place of wisdom and reflection on her own experiences and traumas. tho i must say as an acearo lesbian, i care very little about the relationship problems of heterosexuals who i'll never know. i suppose im not exactly the target audience for this book.

nancyboy56's review against another edition

3.0

"To go to a bookstore and buy ten books of poetry and read them each five times. Why? Because the truth is inside."

maybe the best advice someone can ever give you.

this is not normally the type of nonfiction i tend to read and i'm surprised i liked it. even if you dont like advice at times, you can tell it comes from such a place of wisdom and reflection on her own experiences and traumas. tho i must say as an acearo lesbian, i care very little about the relationship problems of heterosexuals who i'll never know. i suppose im not exactly the target audience for this book.

jencunn2024's review against another edition

3.0

I enjoyed Cheryl Strayed’s writing here so much! This is a collection of her advice columns written under the “Sugar” persona. While Sugar tells it straight but with great love and empathy, the shining bits are the entwined personal stories from Cheryl which bring both literal and allegorical significance to every response. I do think this book offers more if read intermittently taking in each letter and response for what it offers and shares. If I had known this before starting for a Book Club adventure, I would have read this more slowly and spread out over a few months. I think just about everyone can find something relatable here. Her coverage of grief and love is especially inspiring.

zilef's review against another edition

4.0

This was the best gift I had right after I had my baby. I had a real hard time getting back to reading (I mean anything other than baby/ parenting books). This was it! Real stories, real questions and quite damn good advice. Enjoyed it!