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jenlyn4444's review against another edition
challenging
dark
emotional
reflective
sad
medium-paced
4.5
amandae129's review
3.0
I think this is a book that is important and a topic that should be spoken about more, however, I also feel in large part it was a waste. Part 1 started so well and then parts 2 and 3 seemed like the author instead needed a confessional and thought this was the way to do it (I would argue she didn't need to confess and she also didn't need to write this.) In part, I think Woolf thought she was unique in how she reacted after her husband's death, but based on my friends who married too early and felt they missed out on a lot and went a little wild after getting divorced, this is very common. Your kids and your parents and your in-laws and anyone who picks up this book really just don't need to know; tell your friends, that's why you have them.
The other issue is that you can tell she is a blogger as it was written in a lot of little vignettes, but not the good, Dani Shapiro type of vignette, but the random insta post paragraph and then another and another. With better writing and editing, it could have been 5 stars, but it was definitely not.
The other issue is that you can tell she is a blogger as it was written in a lot of little vignettes, but not the good, Dani Shapiro type of vignette, but the random insta post paragraph and then another and another. With better writing and editing, it could have been 5 stars, but it was definitely not.
ellyrarg's review
3.0
It feels vulnerable to read someone else’s truths, like this. Like you’re peeping at something you shouldn’t see, and I wonder how much of it is because of societies unwritten expectations, the ones that are in the air we breath in and assimilate, so when you read something as raw as this - the unashamed here-is-my-truth that is so contrary to façades that are expected… it feels vulnerable and powerful and a little woah.
Read it in two sittings, I picked it up with curiosity about a blogger I’ve followed for years, but also then as I got through it, the curiosity about death and grief and their unhappy marriage and their family, the behind the scenes realities, but as I read something morphed from the initial fascination, into being a witness to her truth.
Anyway, I felt all sorts of complexities and took moments of reflection, around marriages and relationships and death and grief. It’s one of those kind of books, hey. I wish I’d taken longer to read it, taken longer to absorb and consider, but hey ho. It’s messy but beautifully and unapologetically written.
Read it in two sittings, I picked it up with curiosity about a blogger I’ve followed for years, but also then as I got through it, the curiosity about death and grief and their unhappy marriage and their family, the behind the scenes realities, but as I read something morphed from the initial fascination, into being a witness to her truth.
Anyway, I felt all sorts of complexities and took moments of reflection, around marriages and relationships and death and grief. It’s one of those kind of books, hey. I wish I’d taken longer to read it, taken longer to absorb and consider, but hey ho. It’s messy but beautifully and unapologetically written.
90sinmyheart's review
5.0
My copy did have some typos in it which was a distraction but so interesting!
asurges's review against another edition
3.0
Four stars for the first half, two for the last. This book has gotten all kinds of attention for some very good reasons, the prime one of which is Woolf's ability to write honestly and well about a difficult marriage, infidelity, an impending divorce, and then her husband's sudden and quick death due to cancer. In this section, Woolf writes about the complexities of relationships and marriage and the love she feels for this man she doesn't love like a husband. It's a beautiful look at the ways different relationships evolve or end and how you can feel many things at once.
The second half of the book, I think, tries too hard. It's tough for the reader to learn about Woolf's love for her dying husband, and her great mistake, I think, is to make the second half too clean of a break. For example, when she talks about her children and the things they say, I kept wondering what they really had said and how they really were feeling--much of what they said seemed calculated to make us believe in Woolf's freedom and their constant happiness with everything she does and says, and these feel shoehorned and false. Can you just switch off your love for someone that quickly? I'm guessing not, as grief is a complicated process.
I don't have as much a problem as some readers do with the details of her many love affairs. The problem is that she's trying too hard to place a narrative on a horny part of her life, and it doesn't feel natural or hard won. It's ok to let the main subject be uncertain about her future and to have competing emotions.
Finally,
The second half of the book, I think, tries too hard. It's tough for the reader to learn about Woolf's love for her dying husband, and her great mistake, I think, is to make the second half too clean of a break. For example, when she talks about her children and the things they say, I kept wondering what they really had said and how they really were feeling--much of what they said seemed calculated to make us believe in Woolf's freedom and their constant happiness with everything she does and says, and these feel shoehorned and false. Can you just switch off your love for someone that quickly? I'm guessing not, as grief is a complicated process.
I don't have as much a problem as some readers do with the details of her many love affairs. The problem is that she's trying too hard to place a narrative on a horny part of her life, and it doesn't feel natural or hard won. It's ok to let the main subject be uncertain about her future and to have competing emotions.
Finally,