A review by ddejong
Cold Tangerines: Celebrating the Extraordinary Nature of Everyday Life by Shauna Niequist

3.0

I adore Shauna and am pretty much guaranteed to enjoy anything she writes. After reading both Bittersweet and Bread and Wine, I do have to say that I think Cold Tangerines has a bit of "the first book" about it. I think Shauna has grown as a writer since publishing this book- I particularly noticed that many of the chapters, especially early in the book, felt like they ended too neatly. That aside, I still loved this book and thought there was a lot of great stuff in it. I find some other readers' critiques of Shauna kind of bizarre- the only life she can write about is the one she has lived herself, and I don't think it's fair to pronounce her as distant or inaccessible because she's had opportunities to do special and unique things in her life that most people don't. She makes a point of being honest, vulnerable, and real in all her books- she never tries to hide her insecurities or shortcomings or dark seasons of her life, and I find that this makes her incredibly relatable.