waytoomanybooks's review against another edition

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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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amelia_d's review against another edition

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4.0


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readbyroska's review against another edition

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challenging dark emotional funny hopeful inspiring lighthearted reflective relaxing fast-paced

5.0

Read it if any of the following applies to you, and you can’t find your peace:

you’re feeling lost, hopeless, not good enough, deserving but unlucky, regretful, guilty, ashamed, disempowered, confused, heartbroken, lonely, isolated, alone, misunderstood, underachieving. 

Read if you are a partner, wife, husband, mother, father, boyfriend, girlfriend, daughter, son, child, friend, fuck buddy, teacher, student.

Read it if you don’t have anyone in your life who can love you and know you but still tell it to your straight. 

You will find something here for you, so sift through and find it.

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tinyy's review against another edition

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challenging emotional reflective fast-paced

5.0

I think I desperately needed to hear this:
”There is nothing more boring and fruitless than a woman lamenting the fact that her stomach is round.”

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amberlfaris's review against another edition

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challenging emotional funny hopeful inspiring reflective medium-paced

5.0


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absolutely_court's review against another edition

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emotional hopeful inspiring reflective fast-paced

5.0


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cosmic_blooms's review against another edition

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emotional medium-paced

4.0


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questingnotcoasting's review against another edition

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emotional reflective sad fast-paced

4.0

This isn't the sort of book I normally read but after re-reading Wild last month but I thought I'd try it because I really like Cheryl Strayed's writing. This isn't traditional self help because Strayed includes stories from her own life in her answers which is what I enjoyed most about it. It meant I could understand where her advice was coming from. Fortunately I can't relate to most of the problems in the letters but her advice still feels valuable because of the way she writes about universal human nature. I listened to the audiobook and it felt particularly special because she narrates it herself. Some of the letters were really heart-breaking and her advice was sometimes the opposite of what I was expecting and altogether it made for a really fascinating reading experience. 

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indiarose8's review against another edition

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dark emotional funny hopeful inspiring reflective sad fast-paced

5.0

I always return to this book when I need to be reminded that I'm not alone and that humanity exists within everyone. I give it as gifts to all my friends. I love the simple, raw, beautiful way Cheryl Strayed writes. This is one of my favorites for life. 

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iamnita's review against another edition

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adventurous challenging emotional funny hopeful informative inspiring lighthearted reflective relaxing slow-paced

5.0

This book was suggested by a friend, and I couldn't thank her more for the recommendation. It is told in a series of letters to the people writing in, and they describe issues they're dealing with and Dear Sugar responds. The responses are sometimes long-winded before you understand why that story was told, and that made it more endearing. I absolutely plowed through this book given that it reads quite fast, and the individual letters don't take too long before you want to read another. Just a gem. A definite to have on the shelf and flip through from time to time.

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