I called myself an orphaned-adult as I do not fit the title “orphan” anymore, that limits the age to 18 years old. I am now twenty-seven years old – still too young too dumb for this world. I have been through more funerals than wedding. But I am not here to talk about me. I want to write a book review written by Cheryl Strayed titled “Tiny Beautiful Things”.
The book is written in an unconventional way because the author starts as a column journalist and writes responses to anonymous letters she receives from her readers. As a result, this book is a compilation of complicated life questions with no right or wrong answers but somehow universal to all of us. It portrays our fragility as human beings, with our moments of weakness and confusion when life throws us things we do not expect to happen. The topic ranges from marriage and wedding, from being abused and left behind, conflict between parents, high school dramas between girls, raging, and grieving.
The author then answered each question unequivocally and provided examples from her own life – in an honest and open way that shocked me as a reader. This is because as a person, we want to hide behind a persona, especially when you are famous or semi famous. Too much at stake. But for Cheryl Strayed, she can open up about the darkest time in her life and relate it back to the reader. Every letter is in different lengths and intensity, making it a good book to read in commute time. For example, I can finish a letter and the author's response during my two-hour commute time to work and reflect on it in my journal. I love that she always points out the reality of this life and how each experience helps us to meet our true selves.
My favourite sentence from Cheryl Strayed is “You will learn a lot about yourself if you stretch in the direction of goodness, of bigness, of kindness, of forgiveness, of emotional bravery. Be a warrior for love.”
This book has helped me went through the darkest time of my life and I am grateful I read this book when I was 20 years old. I hope this book can help you too.
Maya Fazida is a content creator under the Newswav Creator programme, where you get to express yourself, be a citizen journalist, and at the same time monetize your content & reach millions of users on Newswav. Log in to creator.newswav.com and become a Newswav Creator now!
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