Why it’s essential
In this revelatory listen, acclaimed author answers questions from readers about love, loss, heartbreak, and living life.
Featured in .
What is Tiny Beautiful Things about?
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.
