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3.64 AVERAGE
3.64 AVERAGE
emotional
hopeful
inspiring
reflective
sad
fast-paced
What a delightful collection of short pieces that show the wide variation of sadness and grief. I'm not sure any one story stuck out (other than Kathy MacLeod's since it was illustrated and introduced me to the German concept of Nah am Wasser gebaut ("built too close to the water" or "easy to cry") because they were all touching and insightful.
reflective
reflective
medium-paced
emotional
medium-paced
There is a panel in Kate Gavino's graphic novel A Career in Books where a character has a list of places where she's cried in public, and I have never felt so seen. I could be a backwards-walking tour guide of the KU campus, except instead of pointing out urban legends and trivia, I could point out the offices and buildings where I've been brought to tears. There is the restaurant I'm too embarrassed to go back to, the coffee shop close to a former therapist's office. A whole lot of libraries. I've been known to go to the movies just to have a place in the dark surrounded by people and a swelling soundtrack to drown out my sobs. So, yeah, I'm a crier. Not just sad tears, but every emotion seems to leak out my eyeballs. Exhaustion, joy, fear, laughter, while experiencing the best books, movies, music. Overwhelm, anxiety, anger. Oh, angry tears are the WORST. I used to hate how easily I can become overcome, but as I've gotten older I've accepted it. I'd rather be someone that cares too much than too little. Or not at all.
So when I was looking for a new essay collection to pick up, I was very much drawn to Sad Happens: A Celebration of Tears edited by Brandon Stosuy, illustrated by Rose Lazar, and with contributions from a variety of creators: Matt Berninger of The National, Mike Birbiglia, Hanif Abdurraqib, Phoebe Bridgers. And some contributions from ordinary people whose work puts them frequently in contact with crying people: journalists, therapists, hospice aides, EMTS. Each entry is very short, a page or two. These pieces represent a range of people ,experiences, emotions -- crying in recognition, out of laughter, art, loneliness, pain. (Also who knew so many people cry on airplanes? It was the subject of several different entries, but Hanif Abdurraqib explains it beautifully "If there is a heaven, and if it exists in the sky, and if it holds everyone I have loved and everyone I miss, it is certainly higher than the heights any airplane can reach. And yet, you are still suspended, well above any of the living people you love and also miss. Too high to touch the living, not high enough to be an audience to your beloved dead. I propose that this is the loneliest place. The body might not know it, but it doesn't matter. The heart rings the loudest bell. Everything else falls in line."
In the end, my favorite pieces were about a bookstore employee who finally feels brave enough to come out to a beloved regular, only to get a surprising response. And a man who didn't even make it onto an airplane before crying, whose tears in the airport inspired a random stranger to leave him a note "I hope you can remember that we are human, there is love." After picking this one up, I also grabbed Cry, Baby: Why Our Tears Matter by Benjamin Perry, which I had remembered reading a glowing review of awhile back, and so have been reading both simultaneously. I highly recommend that one, too.
So when I was looking for a new essay collection to pick up, I was very much drawn to Sad Happens: A Celebration of Tears edited by Brandon Stosuy, illustrated by Rose Lazar, and with contributions from a variety of creators: Matt Berninger of The National, Mike Birbiglia, Hanif Abdurraqib, Phoebe Bridgers. And some contributions from ordinary people whose work puts them frequently in contact with crying people: journalists, therapists, hospice aides, EMTS. Each entry is very short, a page or two. These pieces represent a range of people ,experiences, emotions -- crying in recognition, out of laughter, art, loneliness, pain. (Also who knew so many people cry on airplanes? It was the subject of several different entries, but Hanif Abdurraqib explains it beautifully "If there is a heaven, and if it exists in the sky, and if it holds everyone I have loved and everyone I miss, it is certainly higher than the heights any airplane can reach. And yet, you are still suspended, well above any of the living people you love and also miss. Too high to touch the living, not high enough to be an audience to your beloved dead. I propose that this is the loneliest place. The body might not know it, but it doesn't matter. The heart rings the loudest bell. Everything else falls in line."
In the end, my favorite pieces were about a bookstore employee who finally feels brave enough to come out to a beloved regular, only to get a surprising response. And a man who didn't even make it onto an airplane before crying, whose tears in the airport inspired a random stranger to leave him a note "I hope you can remember that we are human, there is love." After picking this one up, I also grabbed Cry, Baby: Why Our Tears Matter by Benjamin Perry, which I had remembered reading a glowing review of awhile back, and so have been reading both simultaneously. I highly recommend that one, too.
emotional
hopeful
inspiring
sad
slow-paced
A collection of essays about crying and sadness, this is simply beautiful. And yes, I cried. I probably needed this more than I realized, and it’s full of beautiful essays and reflections on crying from so many writers and artists I admire.
I love the topic, so I wanted to like this more than I ended up liking it. It could work for different types of readers, but this was my first time reading an anthology of so many short writings as opposed to maybe 15 ones with more depth. The result was that I didn’t find myself resonating with the emotional themes because the writings would usually end before I even settled into a rhythm of reading them. Shelby Hinte’s section made it worth the read to me, and I also enjoyed Daniel Tam-Claiborne’s.
The editor made a really good decision to have an artist create imagery for each individual writing as well. I did wish for a more diverse array of contributors, though, as most were creatives (lots of musicians and writers) and I wanted something more representative of the tears shed outside my bubble.
Thank you to S&S for giving me access to read this book early!
The editor made a really good decision to have an artist create imagery for each individual writing as well. I did wish for a more diverse array of contributors, though, as most were creatives (lots of musicians and writers) and I wanted something more representative of the tears shed outside my bubble.
Thank you to S&S for giving me access to read this book early!
reflective
fast-paced
This made for quick reading before bed. It’s generous to call the contents essays. They’re more like vignettes for the most part and could be Instagram posts or in a zine, most being 2 pages long and just discussing a time the person cried (quite a few start with “last time I cried” or a similar phrasing). A handful are beautiful in their brevity but for the most part I found this just ok as a read and I won’t re-read it.