All of This

A Memoir of Death and Desire

By: Rebecca Woolf

Narrated by: Rebecca Woolf

Length: 6 hrs and 22 mins

Publisher's summary

“Beautifully written, complex, provocative, painful, genuine...an unforgettable memoir.”—ROXANE GAY

“Wonderfully lyrical and uncomfortably honest in a way that is so rare, yet so needed.”—JENNY LAWSON

“Disturbing and profound, this intimate book also reveals the sometimes-labyrinthine nature of the bonds that unite people in love...A provocative and memorable work.”—Kirkus Reviews

After years of struggling in a tumultuous marriage, writer Rebecca Woolf was finally ready to leave her husband. Two weeks after telling him she wanted a divorce, he was diagnosed with stage four pancreatic cancer. Four months later, at the age of forty-four, he died.

In All of This, Woolf chronicles the months before her husband’s death—and her rebirth after he was gone. With rigorous honesty and incredible awareness, she reflects on the end of her marriage: how her husband’s illness finally gave her the space to make peace with his humanity and her own.

Stunning, compelling, and brilliantly nuanced, All of This is one woman’s story of embracing the complexities of grief without shame—as a mother, a widow, and a sexual being—and emerging on the other side of a relationship with gratitude and relief.

©2022 Rebecca Woolf (P)2022 HarperCollins Publishers

excellentt!

I loved it! She is an excellent writer and did a great job as the narrator .

A f@&$ing revelation

I've appreciated Rebecca's writing for years . This is the truest tale of how a white woman can break free from her patriarchical/heterosexually-centric learned behaviors and learn how to quit abandoning her own humanity.

Powerful and real

I have followed Rebecca since her blogging days. I knew when Hal died, she would eventually write a book and I looked forward to listening to her words.

I could have never imagined what life was like behind the social media walls. No one ever really gets to see that reality.

Thank you for being comfortable enough to share your truth. Thank you for being open and honest and real.

Marriage is not always happily ever after and it’s nice to see someone my age talking about these realities.

While I can not relate to her being so free and true to herself, I respect her ability to define that and finally be able to live a more authentic life for herself.

Thank you for sharing, Rebecca. Rest peacefully, Hal. May those four children grow up with the best of both of you to live their fullest lives possible.

Wow…. blown away

Rebecca,

I started this book a few days ago after listening to you on the Just Break Up podcast. I was intrigued enough to download it figuring I would have a few hours over the holiday to listen. I finished it in 2 days. I hung on every word. I want to congratulate you in doing the audio yourself. It really makes a difference.

I too am a truth teller. Although our lives and experiences are completely different, somehow they are the same. From your first words to the last I was transported to a place I’ve never been to but a place that also felt familiar. Thank you for writing your truth.

I’m speechless…

I listened to this story in 1 full working day. I put on headphones and couldn’t take them off.
Rebecca bravely let’s the audience into her past, and present life with glimpses into her future. She is honest, raw and vulnerable. She unapologetically shares her truth and reminds us to do the same. This is her story, but it can connects women all over the globe-to remind themselves to “B.”
Go ahead and use your credit. You won’t be mad. Also, great vocal performance.

Brave, Honest. Raw. Beautiful.

I love memoirs. I’ve read dozens, hundreds? Of them in my life. This is absolutely one of the bravest, most raw, honest telling of one’s story I’ve ever heard. I was moved to tears many times and identified with her words in ways I would have never expected. Thank you Rebecca, for sharing your truth.

Raw, honest, poetic, sexy.

What a real and gutsy portrayal of a magnificent woman’s life. It got a little slow for me when she spends a couple chapters too many on the actual death of her husband but I guess that’s the point. Death is slow and grueling. Her point was to share that experience fully. Otherwise I was on the edge of my seat the whole time.

delicate subject, gorgeous writing

i first read rebecca woolf’s writing back when she maintained her blog, girl’s gone child, and have been following her on social media since the blog folded some years ago. so i was a fan coming into this; i pre-ordered the book when she announced it on her instagram account. even so… this memoir is gorgeous. it’s sad and bittersweet and visceral and joyful and triumphant and beautifully written and read. it was amazing, after reading her story in small doses all these years, to hear her tell it herself.

Not many of us can get this honest

I was intrigued by the unconventional plot of this story, even though at times I judged, can’t fully relate, but I appreciate deeply the significance and power of being true to one’s heart and mind.

Ive read Rebecca since Girls Gone Child

When Dooce died I drug myself back to a blogging landscape of people who I read weekly, daily, hourly that I no longer communed with. Rebecca was one of those writers. Her first book left me crying in a McAllisters and this book left me exposed to the elements of her grief and processing and all the good that can be gained by being who you are.