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rhodered's review
5.0
Yay! Got a winner out of the gate! First read of 2017 and it's one of the best books I've ever read. Best as in I am ordering up more print copies right now to hand out to friends.
'Essays' sounds like school, stiff and boring. Think of these as beautifully (really truly gorgeously) written and fully relatable, first-person love biographies instead. There are no duds in this collection - I had my favorites but the reasons were personal rather than quality.
Each of the 21 writers pulls back the veil of secrecy, we all kind of keep around the heart of our love lives, to show a moment of revelation. The moment when you realize your husband isn't perfect for you but he's the one you want. Or when you finally dump the crazy cheater even though the sex rocked. Or, when your beloved dies but you keep living. Or when you figure out you needed all those very mr wrong's in your past to help you perceive mr right. Or, that time you dated someone a decade younger than you and it really was alright.
Thankfully none of them are preaching 'soul mate' mumbo jumbo (well one is but it's not her husband and they are both ok with that.) And no one takes their HEA for granted. It's more the reality of HFN and the work, often heartache, it took to get there.
I loved that most of the authors were in their 40s, not young adults. This is experience talking. Most were also college-educated American women. They are also all fairly feminist. Within that framework, there's diversity of race, religion and sexual orientation. And they're not all in the Northeasterners either, although many made a pit stop there at some point in life. So, there's Utah, Montana and Illinois among other locations.
I feel better having read this, I feel less isolated in my experience even though it's different from the authors' experiences. There's just something about other women sharing their truths that make my own a bit easier to bear, and celebrate even.
Highly recommended! So very highly.
'Essays' sounds like school, stiff and boring. Think of these as beautifully (really truly gorgeously) written and fully relatable, first-person love biographies instead. There are no duds in this collection - I had my favorites but the reasons were personal rather than quality.
Each of the 21 writers pulls back the veil of secrecy, we all kind of keep around the heart of our love lives, to show a moment of revelation. The moment when you realize your husband isn't perfect for you but he's the one you want. Or when you finally dump the crazy cheater even though the sex rocked. Or, when your beloved dies but you keep living. Or when you figure out you needed all those very mr wrong's in your past to help you perceive mr right. Or, that time you dated someone a decade younger than you and it really was alright.
Thankfully none of them are preaching 'soul mate' mumbo jumbo (well one is but it's not her husband and they are both ok with that.) And no one takes their HEA for granted. It's more the reality of HFN and the work, often heartache, it took to get there.
I loved that most of the authors were in their 40s, not young adults. This is experience talking. Most were also college-educated American women. They are also all fairly feminist. Within that framework, there's diversity of race, religion and sexual orientation. And they're not all in the Northeasterners either, although many made a pit stop there at some point in life. So, there's Utah, Montana and Illinois among other locations.
I feel better having read this, I feel less isolated in my experience even though it's different from the authors' experiences. There's just something about other women sharing their truths that make my own a bit easier to bear, and celebrate even.
Highly recommended! So very highly.
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