• What Looks Like Bravery

  • An Epic Journey Through Loss to Love
  • By: Laurel Braitman
  • Narrated by: Laurel Braitman
  • Length: 8 hrs and 3 mins
  • 4.8 out of 5 stars (51 ratings)

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What Looks Like Bravery  By  cover art

What Looks Like Bravery

By: Laurel Braitman
Narrated by: Laurel Braitman
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Publisher's summary

A true story about the ways loss can transform us into the people we want to become.

Laurel Braitman spent her childhood learning how to outfish grown men, keep bees, and fix carburetors from her larger-than-life dad. Diagnosed with terminal cancer, he went to spectacular lengths to teach her the skills she’d need to survive without him. But by her mid-thirties she is a ship about to splinter on the rocks, exhausted by running from her own bad feelings. We follow as Laurel changes course, navigating multiple wildernesses—from northern New Mexico and western Alaska to her own Tinder app. She learns the hard way that no achievement, no matter how shiny, can protect her from pain, and works to transform guilt and regret into gold: learning from a badass birder in the Bering Sea, a few dozen grieving kids in a support group, a pile of smoking ashes, and countless online dates. Along the way, she faces a wildfire that threatens everyone and everything she cares about, a grueling test of her own survival skills, and the fact that we often have to say our hardest goodbyes before we’re ready. In the end Laurel realizes that being open to love after loss is not only possible, it can set us free.

What Looks Like Bravery is a hero’s journey for our times. Laurel teaches us that hope is a form of courage, one that can work as an all-purpose key to the locked doors of your dreams.

©2023 Laurel Braitman. All rights reserved. (P)2023 Simon & Schuster, Inc. All rights reserved.

Critic reviews

"Laurel Braitman has worked hard to get to a place of peace and self-awareness after years of ignoring the grief of losing her father to cancer. That knowledge imbues every word she speaks, resulting in a performance that further elevates her story. Even when she’s making lousy choices and oversharing them, her authenticity draws the listener in. Braitman has a fine voice and beautiful pacing, and she captures emotional depth like a professional. Her memoir is a love letter to her parents, both of whom are quirky, loving, and resolute. As an adult, Braitman volunteers at a center for grieving children, and those children are full of wisdom. She concludes that maybe there isn’t a happy-ever-after in life, but if you can get to happy-sad, that’s a pretty good outcome." (AudioFile Magazine)

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What listeners say about What Looks Like Bravery

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Braitman is an alchemist

Braitman is an alchemist, transforming her grief into something of great value—a beautifully written, generous memoir which illuminates a path of endurance and healing.

Candid and vividly rendered, it’s stayed with me*

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Beautiful memoir

Laurel’s story deeply resonated, having lost a parent recently. Beautifully told. Balled my eyes out a few times.

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Holy wow, this is now one of my favorite books!

I cannot say enough about this incredible story and Laurel's telling of it - just wow. I love her writing and her voice, and her truth is better than any fiction I've read in as long as I can remember. Such a beautiful and poignant story that just kept unfolding in surprising ways and often had me in tears (in the best of ways!). I could not put it down.

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Just beautiful

What a beautiful tribute to life and love. I work in the hospital setting and do a lot of grief work at Stanford Children’s. This book was raw & real and I am so grateful for the wisdom I am taking away.

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Beautifully told and heart-opening

I started listening yesterday and just finished today. I couldn't put it down. Do yourself a favor and get this book!

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Feels like the best conversation with a best friend

Inspired stories, truths and tears; this memoir weaves through years and resonates in heartbeats from start to finish.

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So much heart and soul

So much heart and soul in this story. Beautifully written memoir that kept unfolding. Laurel has so much to say and she conveys her story with honest vulnerability and compassion. Narration excellent. Thank you, Laurel.

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Everyone should read, listen and gift this book

Laurel is an incredible writer and stunning reader. Transformative. You will live life more meaningfully and love more deeply by reading it.

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Wonderful perspective on love and loss.

Laurel is able to account her life in a way I could never. This book is robust and heart felt. The ability to weave her trauma in a rocky but productive way is so refreshing. I listened in 2 1/2 days! Loved it.

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  • 03-24-23

What a great story.

😭🥹 Such a touching story. Thank you for sharing your and your family’s experiences & wisdom. Laughed and cried throughout. This book is medicine.

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