Reviews tagging 'Terminal illness'

Tiny Beautiful Things: Advice on Love and Life from Dear Sugar by Cheryl Strayed

9 reviews

fran_bielar's review against another edition

dark emotional funny hopeful reflective sad slow-paced

3.75

I’m glad i read it. Some stories weren’t as impactful but some were really really moving. Every trigger warning possible for this book but it was a great collection of stories about people and their lives - specifically looking at the harder/darker sides of people. 

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Addiction, Alcoholism, Bullying, Cancer, Child abuse, Chronic illness, Domestic abuse, Drug abuse, Drug use, Emotional abuse, Incest, Infidelity, Mental illness, Miscarriage, Physical abuse, Self harm, Sexual assault, Suicidal thoughts, Terminal illness, Toxic relationship, Grief, Death of parent, Pregnancy, Toxic friendship, Abandonment, Alcohol, and Sexual harassment

These are hard stories about the darker sides of people’s lives. They talk about their trauma and why they are the way they are. This is why there are so many trigger warnings. Not every story discusses each topic, but overall the book does touch on these issues.

waytoomanybooks's review against another edition

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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Content Warnings

Graphic: Mental illness and Grief

Moderate: Addiction, Alcoholism, Animal cruelty, Animal death, Body shaming, Bullying, Child abuse, Child death, Chronic illness, Cursing, Death, Domestic abuse, Drug abuse, Drug use, Eating disorder, Emotional abuse, Fatphobia, Homophobia, Infertility, Infidelity, Miscarriage, Misogyny, Panic attacks/disorders, Pedophilia, Physical abuse, Racism, Rape, Self harm, Sexism, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Sexual violence, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Terminal illness, Toxic relationship, Transphobia, Violence, Medical content, Medical trauma, Abortion, Suicide attempt, Death of parent, Pregnancy, Toxic friendship, Abandonment, Sexual harassment, Dysphoria, Injury/Injury detail, and Classism

jessmbark's review against another edition

emotional funny hopeful inspiring reflective fast-paced

4.25

This book made me cry real tears three times as someone who lost their parents and as a twenty-something woman. 

That said, sometimes it felt like Strayed told a lot of her own story instead of addressing the writer's. If you like those podcasts or TikToks that discuss Reddit AITA posts, you will like this book. Many thanks to the mentor who recommended it to me. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Adult/minor relationship, Sexual assault, Toxic relationship, and Toxic friendship

Moderate: Addiction, Xenophobia, Religious bigotry, and Abortion

Minor: Suicidal thoughts, Terminal illness, Murder, Fire/Fire injury, and Abandonment

bootsmom3's review

challenging dark emotional hopeful inspiring reflective sad medium-paced

3.0

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Addiction, Cancer, Child death, Cursing, Death, Domestic abuse, Drug abuse, Drug use, Eating disorder, Emotional abuse, Homophobia, Infidelity, Mental illness, Miscarriage, Sexual content, Suicidal thoughts, Terminal illness, Toxic relationship, Grief, Death of parent, Toxic friendship, and Dysphoria

questingnotcoasting's review

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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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Alcoholism, Child abuse, Child death, Death, Drug abuse, Homophobia, Infidelity, Mental illness, Miscarriage, Pedophilia, Physical abuse, Sexual assault, Suicidal thoughts, Terminal illness, Toxic relationship, Violence, Grief, Medical trauma, Death of parent, Toxic friendship, Abandonment, and Alcohol

indiarose8's review against another edition

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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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child abuse, Domestic abuse, Homophobia, Pedophilia, Physical abuse, and Violence

Moderate: Drug abuse, Terminal illness, Toxic relationship, and Toxic friendship

iamnita's review against another edition

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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Content Warnings

Minor: Addiction, Alcoholism, Cancer, Child death, Cursing, Death, Domestic abuse, Drug abuse, Eating disorder, Emotional abuse, Infertility, Infidelity, Mental illness, Miscarriage, Physical abuse, Rape, Sexual assault, Suicidal thoughts, Terminal illness, Toxic relationship, Grief, Stalking, Death of parent, Murder, Pregnancy, and Toxic friendship

smoladeryn's review against another edition

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. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Child abuse, Death, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Homophobia, Infidelity, Mental illness, Misogyny, Sexism, Sexual content, Terminal illness, Toxic relationship, Death of parent, Gaslighting, Toxic friendship, Abandonment, and Classism

Moderate: Addiction, Bullying, Cancer, Cursing, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Infertility, Physical abuse, Sexual assault, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Violence, Dementia, Grief, Pregnancy, Sexual harassment, and Dysphoria

carabones's review against another edition

challenging emotional hopeful inspiring reflective fast-paced

4.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Adult/minor relationship, Alcoholism, Cancer, Child abuse, Child death, Death, Domestic abuse, Drug abuse, Drug use, Emotional abuse, Homophobia, Incest, Infidelity, Mental illness, Miscarriage, Pedophilia, Physical abuse, Rape, Self harm, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Suicidal thoughts, Terminal illness, Toxic relationship, Transphobia, and Grief