As a sensitive, dramatic, creative type, I buy a lot of things in this book. Like two fucking tombstones, the humiliation of having needs, the desire to be yar, and boring love over narratively satisfying love. But the thing I don’t buy is that CJ Hauser is out here living her life for everyone else. As the reader, I am in fact in awe of the creative, colorful, community-filled life she’s led. She taught me a lot of lessons in this, including the meta lesson to stop worrying about whether you’re living an interesting life and just go live your interesting life.

At first I thought this was going to be one of those memoirs where it's hard to tell why the author is interesting enough to read a memoir about, but since this is not really a memoir and really just an essay collection, it was not. By the end I felt like Hauser had really opened herself up and shown how she thinks, the good and the bad. Getting this up close and personal with someone who thinks so differently from myself was interesting and the writing was excellent.

I like the original Essay and there is nothing that completely blew me out of the water but it was earnest and a good reminder of maybe how to focus our lives

Terminé 2023 con este libro, pero de momento sigo pensando en él todos los días. Es lúcido, auténtico, y está plagado de anécdotas y pensamientos relucientes que me vuelven a la cabeza como un boomerang. Por suerte, fue un regalo y lo tengo encima de la mesa dispuesto a todas esas relecturas y préstamos que le deparará este 2024. Amigas, preparaos, se ha creado una conversación infinita.

«Tuve la sensación de que quizá fuera posible dibujar la casa perfecta, con sus habitaciones y animales y amigos, y cuando ya no quedara espacio suficiente, coger otro papel y dibujar un túnel que comunicara tu antigua vida con la nueva. Tal vez esta nueva vida podía ampliar la que yo había construido, con mis amigos y mis familias, pero no sustituirla. Tal vez las buenas historias de amor son las que no expulsan de casa todos los demás relatos».