Maybe You Should Talk to Someone

A Therapist, HER Therapist, and Our Lives Revealed

By: Lori Gottlieb

Narrated by: Brittany Pressley

Length: 14 hrs and 21 mins

Publisher's Summary

Now being developed as a television series with Eva Longoria and ABC!  

"An irresistibly addictive tour of the human condition." (Kirkus, starred review)

"Rarely have I read a book that challenged me to see myself in an entirely new light, and was at the same time laugh-out-loud funny and utterly absorbing." (Katie Couric)

"This is a daring, delightful, and transformative book." (Arianna Huffington, founder, Huffington Post and founder & CEO, Thrive Global)

"Wise, warm, smart, and funny. You must read this book." (Susan Cain, New York Times best-selling author of Quiet)

From a New York Times best-selling author, psychotherapist, and national advice columnist, a hilarious, thought-provoking, and surprising new book that takes us behind the scenes of a therapist's world - where her patients are looking for answers (and so is she).  

One day, Lori Gottlieb is a therapist who helps patients in her Los Angeles practice. The next, a crisis causes her world to come crashing down. Enter Wendell, the quirky but seasoned therapist in whose of­fice she suddenly lands. With his balding head, cardigan, and khakis, he seems to have come straight from Therapist Central Casting. Yet he will turn out to be anything but.  

As Gottlieb explores the inner chambers of her patients' lives - a self-absorbed Hollywood producer, a young newlywed diagnosed with a terminal illness, a senior citizen threatening to end her life on her birthday if nothing gets better, and a 20-something who can't stop hooking up with the wrong guys - she finds that the questions they are struggling with are the very ones she is now bringing to Wendell.  

With startling wisdom and humor, Gottlieb invites us into her world as both clinician and patient, examining the truths and fictions we tell ourselves and others as we teeter on the tightrope between love and desire, meaning and mortality, guilt and redemption, terror and courage, hope and change.  

Maybe You Should Talk to Someone is revolutionary in its candor, offering a deeply personal yet universal tour of our hearts and minds and providing the rarest of gifts: a boldly revealing portrait of what it means to be human and a disarmingly funny and illuminating account of our own mysterious lives and our power to transform them.

©2019 Lori Gottlieb (P)2019 Audible, Inc.

Critic Reviews

"Brittany Pressley performs this audiobook at a fast pace that will be familiar to listeners who live in large, bustling cities. But she knows how to moderate her energy for the tender sections, and her overall performance sounds authentic, conversational, and true to the core intentions of the author's story....Portrayed by Pressley, [the author] also sounds like someone you know, which makes her observations and insights all the more accessible." (AudioFile Magazine)

It was like a hallmark movie being waterboarded into my ears for 15 hours

It probably has some good general information, but it felt like the author was trying so hard to write a sentimental book about therapy that would sell to her agent, that most of it came out cheesy and fake.

So boring, I can't return this fast enough

I'm very perplexed by all the positive reviews for this book. The narrator is possibly the worst one I've ever listened to- she sounds like a robot with little inflection. I imagine maybe I'd like the book more with a different narrator. This is the first Audible book I've returned because I just couldn't listen to it after getting about halfway in. The story rambles and even at this point, I don't know where she's going with it. Skip this one, unless you like having Siri read you to sleep.

Don’t Bother Waste of Time

This book has no point. Rambling thoughts and stories of a jack of all trades and master of none. Failed marriage, failed engagement, and failed as therapist- but wait she now cons others by spilling patient stories for the price of a book. Can I get my money back?

I kept waiting for something to happen

I’m not sure who the intended audience was for this book. Someone contemplating or needing counseling? It certainly does normalize the concept and explain a bit about what you would expect but the stories were not interesting so I would say pass if you are looking to be entertained. Good narrator though.

A Therapist Analyzes Hersrlf

A therapist goes to therapy. She reflects on her career, love life, and midlife malaise. She uses anecdotes about her clients to support her self-reflections. It was like listening to a friend talk about her life for a very long time. A likable, well-intentioned friend, but I just didn't find it compelling.

I'm going to miss the narrator...

Loved it! I literally just finished listening to it and I'm considering listening to it again right now. It provides great insight into how therapy works and why anyone and everyone would benefit of seeing a therapist (the right therapist, that is). I think there is a take-away for everyone in this book.

An Entertaining, Narcissistic Diatribe

The "story" of Gottlieb's life and patients were certainly interesting and entertaining and Pressley's narration was superb. And, it certainly hit on all the benefits of therapy. But, the book felt a bit self-indulgent and maybe even a bit contrived. I'd need to go to the print version to confirm, but were all the "characters" real or were they conglomerations of many people due to privacy issues? I don't think I really ever quite understood why Gottlieb left an amazing opportunity in the TV industry to then leave another amazing gift of medical school at Stanford to then sideline a successful writing career to become a therapist. And, as another reviewer mentioned, the book ends with no real wrap of the author's struggles that are mentioned throughout the book. Contrived specifically for a sequel? I'm thinking the answer to that is "yes!"

Best Book I’ve Read This Year

This book is heartwarming, funny, insightful, and moving. If I had to pick one book I read this year that truly changed how I feel and approach my daily life, it’s this one. Lori’s ability to normalize our humanity and the idea of having a therapist is so grounding. Her emphasis on the importance of connection to others and creating meaning in our lives is both comforting and inspirational.

Great listen, great narration

I loved this. Honest, laugh out loud funny at some moments, and other moments that had be bawling. Intimate without being overwhelming. Narrator was perfectly cast. I’ve already recommended this audiobook to other friends, worth a listen. It made me think seriously about how I talk to myself and made me want to hug my therapist.

An amazing story that touched all five of my senses

This book was comical, yet emotional on every level. I laughed, I cried, I hugged my loved ones a little tighter. A book that was written so well it played like a movie in my head. I could taste the Chinese chicken salad Jon brought into his sessions, I could hear Julie and her boyfriend laughing and crying together, I could see Ruby’s art, and I could feel every emotion expressed throughout this amazing piece of work. Thank you so much for sharing Lori.