Why it’s essential
In this revelatory listen, acclaimed author Cheryl Strayed answers questions from readers about love, loss, heartbreak, and living life.
Featured in The Top 100 Well-Being Listens of All Time.
What is Tiny Beautiful Things about?
Tiny Beautiful Things is a collection of advice columns written by bestselling author Cheryl Strayed, who acted as the anonymous author of the "Dear Sugar" advice column for a small online magazine. The letters answered are often deeply emotional and touch on various universal themes that affect most people over the course of their lives.
Editor's review
Editor Madeline loves memoir, literary fiction that tackles the existential, and all the sapphic stories she can get her hands on.
This insightful book, a compilation of advice columns for online literary magazine The Rumpus, penned by critically acclaimed author Cheryl Strayed under her beloved pseudonym ‘Sugar,’ is one I find myself drawing wisdom from time and time again. Somehow, it’s as if the people in these stories are not strangers but close friends who just so happened to reach into the void (aka the internet) for guidance. I first discovered Tiny Beautiful Things while browsing an adorable shop in my neighborhood, and after leafing through its pages, I knew I had to read it. That same weekend, I planned to make the eight-hour drive from Brooklyn to my hometown in upstate New York, so I opted to listen to the audiobook, making Strayed, who narrates her work, my sage companion for the ride.
My hunch is that the unique staying power of each column has a lot to do with the uniqueness of ‘Sugar’ herself. Rather than take on the role of All-Knowing Guru, Strayed bares her soul, sharing her deeply personal experiences so that the advice seeker may mine her life for wisdom rather than take advice the way one might take a pill. She is refreshingly honest, affirming the letter-writer's feelings two breaths before telling them why they are wrong. Listening to Strayed, I was reminded of one of my wisest and truest friends who, whenever I approach her for advice, will listen intently, tell me she loves me, and then announce, "I’m gonna scrape your face against reality," before dispensing some profoundly helpful but often uncomfortable tough love. The columns and stories are tangible threads, intertwining specific yet universal human experiences with such poignancy I couldn’t make it through the introduction without tearing up.
While most letters stand firmly on their own, independent countries in Sugar’s world of wisdom, one section of the book responds to multiple letters at once, all centering on the topic of yearning to leave relationships that don’t have any glaringly ugly problems. In this chapter, the individual letters seem to be in conversation with each other—words penned by people on opposite sides of the country seeming to effortlessly finish each other’s sentences. The result is a feeling of kinship with a largely unknown world. How can one deny the universality of the very problems that make us feel so alone when listening to these converging stories, one after the next?
Of course, certain columns spoke to me more than others, but I was pleasantly surprised by my ability to relate to nearly every selection in some way or another. While the column "Write Like a Motherf***er" spoke to me on a gut level, unsurprisingly, as the focus was on a woman in her late 20s who was struggling to move forward as a writer, a column about a long-married woman whose husband had betrayed her left me equally teary-eyed as I shifted through newfound feelings around the concept of forgiveness.
Strayed has often said of her work, "the only thing I ever hope to do as a writer is to make people feel less alone," and that is precisely what she has accomplished with this radically empathetic collection.
Did you know?
Strayed anonymously penned the 'Dear Sugar' column in The Rumpus for more than two years before revealing herself as the author. During that time, she received no pay for her writing.
Strayed was in the writers' room for the Hulu adaptation of Tiny Beautiful Things because she wanted to make sure the heart of her work stayed intact.
Before becoming ‘Sugar’ herself, Strayed was a fan of the column and read it religiously. In fact, it was a fan letter that she sent to the original ‘Sugar,’ writer Steve Almond, that landed her the job!
What listeners said
"I listened to most of the book in one sitting. And it made me feel a little better, a little less alone. I won’t forget that feeling." –N.M., Audible listener
"One of the best, most beautiful works I have ever listened to. Sugar is without a doubt the most lovingly truthful person I have ever heard." –Audible listener
"This book is not strident/ pedantic as are some advice- givers. This is like advice from a wise and fabulously credentialed therapist/ best friend/ mom/ teacher." –Kimberly, Audible listener
"Why Go to Therapy When You Have This Book?" –Mary Pat, Audible listener
Listen if you loved
Quotes from Tiny Beautiful Things
"You cannot convince people to love you. This is an absolute rule. No one will ever give you love because you want him or her to give it. Real love moves freely in both directions. Don’t waste your time on anything else."
"The useless days will add up to something. The shitty waitressing jobs. The hours writing in your journal. The long meandering walks. The hours reading poetry and story collections and novels and dead people’s diaries and wondering about sex and God and whether you should shave under your arms or not. These things are your becoming."
"Wanting to leave is enough."
"I'll never know, and neither will you, of the life you don't choose. We'll only know that whatever that sister life was, it was important and beautiful and not ours."
"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."
"Let yourself be gutted. Let it open you. Start here."
Adaptations
Tiny Beautiful Things was adapted for a television miniseries starring Kathryn Hahn, which premiered on Hulu in April 2023. It was previously adapted for the stage by Academy Award nominee Nia Vardalos (My Big Fat Greek Wedding); the play made its debut at the Public Theater in New York City in November 2016 and has since been performed in theaters across the US and Canada.
About the author and performer
Cheryl Strayed is the author of the #1 New York Times bestseller Wild: From Lost to Found on the Pacific Crest Trail, which has sold more than four million copies worldwide and was made into an Oscar-nominated major motion picture. She is also the author of Torch, her critically acclaimed debut novel, and the collection Brave Enough, which brings together more than one hundred of her inspiring quotes, as well as Tiny Beautiful Things. Her award-winning essays and short stories have been published in The Best American Essays, The New York Times, the Washington Post Magazine, Vogue, Salon, and elsewhere. She has hosted two hit podcasts, Sugar Calling and Dear Sugars. She lives in Portland, Oregon.
