Reviews tagging 'Toxic friendship'

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

18 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.

clittleford3's review against another edition

hopeful inspiring reflective

2.5

One thing is certain: Cheryl Strayed can write! 

While I didn’t always agree with the advice and some of the topics were not ones I wanted to hear, she did an excellent job of making each response a story and drawing you in to her tale. Much of her advice is anecdotal. The style sitting somewhere between Jenny Lawson & Brenè Btown. 

There is quite a bit of sex and sexuality related content and many four letter words that start with F.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child abuse, Sexual content, Toxic relationship, and Death of parent

Moderate: Emotional abuse, Infidelity, Mental illness, Rape, and Grief

Minor: Addiction, Child death, Death, Drug abuse, Drug use, and Toxic friendship

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

readbyroska's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional funny hopeful inspiring lighthearted reflective relaxing fast-paced

5.0

Read it if any of the following applies to you, and you can’t find your peace:

you’re feeling lost, hopeless, not good enough, deserving but unlucky, regretful, guilty, ashamed, disempowered, confused, heartbroken, lonely, isolated, alone, misunderstood, underachieving. 

Read if you are a partner, wife, husband, mother, father, boyfriend, girlfriend, daughter, son, child, friend, fuck buddy, teacher, student.

Read it if you don’t have anyone in your life who can love you and know you but still tell it to your straight. 

You will find something here for you, so sift through and find it.

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Content Warnings

Minor: Addiction, Alcoholism, Bullying, Cancer, Child abuse, Child death, Cursing, Death, Domestic abuse, Drug abuse, Drug use, Eating disorder, Emotional abuse, Homophobia, Incest, Infidelity, Mental illness, Miscarriage, Panic attacks/disorders, Pedophilia, Physical abuse, Rape, Self harm, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Sexual violence, Suicidal thoughts, Toxic relationship, Transphobia, Grief, Religious bigotry, Car accident, Abortion, Suicide attempt, Death of parent, Pregnancy, Fire/Fire injury, Gaslighting, Toxic friendship, Abandonment, Alcohol, Dysphoria, and Classism

koplomps's review against another edition

hopeful inspiring sad medium-paced

3.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Incest, Infidelity, and Sexual content

Moderate: Addiction, Alcoholism, Body shaming, Bullying, Cancer, Child abuse, Child death, Chronic illness, Cursing, Domestic abuse, Drug abuse, Homophobia, Infertility, Miscarriage, Pedophilia, Rape, Suicidal thoughts, Grief, Car accident, Abortion, Death of parent, Toxic friendship, and Abandonment

fanchera's review against another edition

adventurous challenging emotional funny hopeful inspiring lighthearted reflective sad fast-paced

4.0

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Addiction, Death, Drug abuse, Drug use, Toxic relationship, Grief, Death of parent, and Toxic friendship

Minor: Abortion

renreads2much's review against another edition

emotional hopeful informative inspiring reflective medium-paced

5.0

God its such a beautiful book. This is the kind of book I believe everyone should read at least once. Everyone can get SOMETHING out of it, whether big or small. 

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Content Warnings

Minor: Child abuse, Emotional abuse, Homophobia, Mental illness, Miscarriage, Panic attacks/disorders, Sexual content, Toxic relationship, Grief, Religious bigotry, Death of parent, Toxic friendship, and Alcohol

These are all very brief depending on the submission. But It does not go into super deep detail, really just mentions these briefly or for the sake of context (if I'm remembering correctly.)

bookmarkedtbr's review against another edition

emotional hopeful inspiring reflective fast-paced

5.0

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Content Warnings

Minor: Ableism, Addiction, Alcoholism, Child abuse, Child death, Cursing, Death, Domestic abuse, Drug abuse, Drug use, Eating disorder, Emotional abuse, Fatphobia, Homophobia, Incest, Infidelity, Mental illness, Physical abuse, Rape, Self harm, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Toxic relationship, Grief, Abortion, Death of parent, Gaslighting, Toxic friendship, Alcohol, and Pandemic/Epidemic

cosmic_blooms's review against another edition

emotional medium-paced

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Child abuse, Death, Sexual content, and Grief

Moderate: Alcoholism, Cursing, Drug use, Fatphobia, Incest, Mental illness, Physical abuse, Rape, Self harm, Suicide, Toxic relationship, Pregnancy, and Toxic friendship