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A review by smoladeryn
Tiny Beautiful Things: Advice on Love and Life from Dear Sugar by Cheryl Strayed
dark
emotional
funny
medium-paced
5.0
“Acceptance is a small, quiet room” p352
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.
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.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Abandonment, Addiction, Terminal illness, Mental illness, Misogyny, Gaslighting, Child abuse, Classism, Death, Death of parent, Homophobia, Infidelity, Sexism, Toxic friendship, Toxic relationship, and Sexual content
Moderate: Addiction, Bullying, Domestic abuse, Physical abuse, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Infertility, Dysphoria, Emotional abuse, Grief, Pregnancy, Cancer, Cursing, Dementia, Violence, Sexual assault, and Sexual harassment