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

Genre: Non-Fiction

I gave this book *****

This is not a story but an advice column that appeared in www.therumpus.net. The idea for The Rumpus, we learn in the introduction from Steve Almond, the original Dear Sugar and author, came from a group of authors who wanted to create a place for writers to share ideas and art. The advice column came soon after the site was created. After a year of writing the column, Almond decided he didn’t want to do it anymore and asked Cheryl Strayed to take over. This book holds a selection of the columns she wrote and reads, somewhat, as an autobiography as Strayed shares a lot of insight from her own life and experiences.

Strayed’s advice is at the same time common sense and profoundly moving. To the man who can’t say I love you, Strayed recants how she can still hear her mother’s last words to her ringing in her ears like a bell, “Love, love, love, love”. She implores the man to ring that same proverbial bell and live his life to the fullest. To the woman who’s agreed to be paid for sex and is writing to ask for Strayed’s opinion, she says if you don’t want to be a prostitute, you shouldn’t be one. To the woman who lost her baby at six months old and is deep in depression she says, you live in the world of “my-baby-just-died” and you need to find others who live in this world with you. To the man who asks “What the fuck? What the fuck? What the fuck?”, she says, “What the fuck is your life!”, so live it and don’t question it. Her advice is kind, respectful and smart.

I really, really liked this book! The writing is clear, concise, insightful and truly enjoyable. While I couldn’t relate to most of the specific advice requests, I could relate to what Strayed condensed all the requests to: the human condition to want to love and be loved, to be understood and to be a part of a community.

If you know me, you know that I love, love reading. Books make me happy (even when they make me sad!). That said, I don’t have much space in my home (nor do I want) to store all the books I have and will read so my Nook, CD Walkman (yes, I still use one!) and phone get a lot of use. I have just one small book shelf with a few books that have been most meaningful to me: Romeo and Juliet (from high school), The Chosen, Mila 18, Flowers for Algernon and a few more. This book is joining the ranks. It’s going on my book shelf and I will go back to it for many years to come.