Lessons In Letting Go: Confessions Of A Hoarder (2011) - Plot & Excerpts
Interesting memoir of a woman who gradually realizes she's a hoarder and starts working to overcome the problem. She did a good job explaining hoarders' emotional connections to objects--she might hurt her socks' feelings if she throws them out, and her mom's old broken breadbox reminds her of after-school snacks around the kitchen table. Every object in Corinne's life is linked to a memory, and she's afraid she'll lose the memories if she gets rid of the objects.A turbulent breakup with a long-term boyfriend throws Corinne's world into a tailspin, and she finally realizes she has to grow up and remake herself. At the beginning of the book she's utterly useless: she can't create a budget, make friends, or live by herself without falling apart. It's unclear how she got to this point. She blames the whole thing on a chance encounter with a little girl in a toy shop when she was a child, which I found bizarre.But whatever Corinne's issues were, she finally finds a way to overcome them. It seemed a little simplistic to me: she took a week-long yoga trip to Bali and then spent another week visiting refugees in Jordan, and then suddenly she had a psychological breakthrough. She came home, threw away all her junk, wrote off the ex-boyfriend, and became a completely different person. So...all it takes is a few days of meditation and suddenly you're a different person? I'm happy for her but kind of skeptical.The trip to Jordan was my favourite part of the book. At the time the book was written, about 10% of Jordan's population was made up of refugees from wars in the Middle East. That's a stunning figure, especially considering that the two countries I call "home" throw a fit when asked to take in a couple of hundred refugees. It was interesting to me that the Sunnis and Shiites said they all worshiped in the same buildings and lived in the same neighbourhoods before Iraq's war with the United States. Some of them didn't even KNOW they were Sunnis and Shiites before the outside world started turning them against each other. I wish that section of the book had been longer. They say that a messy desk shows a messy mind. After reading this book I felt like I've got a better understanding of the connection. I've started looking at the stuff around me in a different way. Grant is so funny on the TV that I thought this book would also be funny. But there was actually only one part that was laugh out loud. The rest just feels like a very open and honest conversation. She talk of feelings of self worth and it's comforting to know that other people can get just as wrapped up in negative spirals that don't actually reflect who we are. I particularly liked the section around page 180 when she looks back on what the relics of her university life actually shows and is able to see herself as the world saw her - accomplished and talented. I picked up this book as light relief after reading a classic text for uni. The writing style is light and funny and I breezed through most of it in an evening and this morning, just one section towards the end that I spent a bit more time reading as the situation isn't something I have read a lot about. Funnily enough it's not even my book. So I can start the clearing out by returning it to it's rightful owner.
What do You think about Lessons In Letting Go: Confessions Of A Hoarder (2011)?
Unexciting. But it did encourage me to go thru my junk.
—Lyvia
Just the right mix of funny and heartbreaking honesty.
—Eithne
Read this for the Corryong connection and for Ness.
—Eve
