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Craigslist Confessional: A Collection of Secrets from Anonymous Strangers by Helena Dea Bala
shile87's review against another edition
Audiobook - 5+++ stars available on Scribd.
Story - ???
I am going to leave this unrated. I don't even know how i feel about these stories, they are depressing AF. Damn! i felt like i was reading someone's deepest, diary secrets without the juicy parts. It has all the trigger warnings, the problem is that, it is not fiction. I can take all of them in fiction when i know there will be a resolution somehow.
I kinda want the author to do a follow up with these guys, i want to know more about some of them, did they find peace? what happened to their families? did they find happiness? did they leave?
Anyhoo, it was depressing.
Story - ???
I am going to leave this unrated. I don't even know how i feel about these stories, they are depressing AF. Damn! i felt like i was reading someone's deepest, diary secrets without the juicy parts. It has all the trigger warnings, the problem is that, it is not fiction. I can take all of them in fiction when i know there will be a resolution somehow.
I kinda want the author to do a follow up with these guys, i want to know more about some of them, did they find peace? what happened to their families? did they find happiness? did they leave?
Anyhoo, it was depressing.
horrorghoul's review against another edition
3.0
TW: Drugs, sex workers, child sexual abuse, cheating, rape, torture, abortion, family drama, child death, miscarriages, suicide,
*****SPOILERS*****
About the book: It started with a single personal ad on Craigslist: tell me about yourself. Dea Bala never expected the outpouring of responses that would follow. She was working as a lobbyist when the idea was born: she'd chat up respondents on the phone or at a coffee shop and let them tell her about their lives. Dea Bala soon had to quit her day job to make time for all of the Craigslist sessions. She took notes during each conversation and journaled about the emotional experience to expertly inhabit the voice of each subject. What emerges is a collection of narratives, all in first person, of anonymous people revealing their deepest, darkest secrets; or at least the most poignant moments of their lives. Infidelity, addiction, loss, corruption, the search for unconditional love—reading these carefully, empathetically crafted monologues reveals how suffering is something we all have in common. Each tragedy or triumph is unique, but the intensity of feeling is not.
Release Date: July 7th, 2020
Genre: Documentary
Pages: 256
Rating: ⭐ ⭐ ⭐
What I Liked:
• Some of the stories are heartbreaking
• It's a great idea
What I Didn't Like:
• The chapters never felt like they matched the sections they were put in.
• The stories kept of felt dull once you’ve read a 20+ stories
Overall Thoughts: This book is such a great idea. I love that there was such a mix up of stories. Some of the stories were so depressing and just ripped your heart apart. Some stories made you hate humans and not understand how they can exist. For me some parts felt flat and just kept going on and on and you kind of lose the stories after all the other stories.
IG|Blog
*****SPOILERS*****
About the book: It started with a single personal ad on Craigslist: tell me about yourself. Dea Bala never expected the outpouring of responses that would follow. She was working as a lobbyist when the idea was born: she'd chat up respondents on the phone or at a coffee shop and let them tell her about their lives. Dea Bala soon had to quit her day job to make time for all of the Craigslist sessions. She took notes during each conversation and journaled about the emotional experience to expertly inhabit the voice of each subject. What emerges is a collection of narratives, all in first person, of anonymous people revealing their deepest, darkest secrets; or at least the most poignant moments of their lives. Infidelity, addiction, loss, corruption, the search for unconditional love—reading these carefully, empathetically crafted monologues reveals how suffering is something we all have in common. Each tragedy or triumph is unique, but the intensity of feeling is not.
Release Date: July 7th, 2020
Genre: Documentary
Pages: 256
Rating: ⭐ ⭐ ⭐
What I Liked:
• Some of the stories are heartbreaking
• It's a great idea
What I Didn't Like:
• The chapters never felt like they matched the sections they were put in.
• The stories kept of felt dull once you’ve read a 20+ stories
Overall Thoughts: This book is such a great idea. I love that there was such a mix up of stories. Some of the stories were so depressing and just ripped your heart apart. Some stories made you hate humans and not understand how they can exist. For me some parts felt flat and just kept going on and on and you kind of lose the stories after all the other stories.
IG|Blog
thelovelylibrarylady's review against another edition
challenging
emotional
reflective
medium-paced
4.0
When this book first popped up on my feed, I knew that I had to get my hands on it. And if you're as interested in other people's secrets as much as I am, this is a must-read for you as well. Craigslist Confessional is a collection of narratives that are full of the craziest anecdotes I have ever heard/read. Dea Bala, the author, did a wonderful job preserving the stories so we could read them in the same way she was told them by her interviewees. Overall, this is a nonfiction book you do not want to skip!
maddiecracker's review against another edition
challenging
emotional
hopeful
informative
inspiring
reflective
medium-paced
5.0
shereadstales's review against another edition
emotional
hopeful
informative
reflective
medium-paced
4.0
rfwads's review against another edition
dark
sad
1.0
You know how people will tell you a story about their past experiences...
- To inspire you
- To provide life lessons so you don't make the same mistakes
- To provide advice on a problem you are having
Well if you are looking for stories that hit on any of the three bullets above, then this book is not for you!
I had high hopes for this book after reading the synopsis. I was expecting either shocking secrets to be shared or inspirational stories. Instead, every story in this book was dark and heavy and had a lot of trauma and/or pain in them. Honestly, I can't believe I finished the book. There were multiple times that I just wanted to throw the book out the window, but I pushed through. At the beginning of the book, the author said that she wanted to help others, but how does exploiting someone's pain help them? Overall, I would not recommend this book to others.
- To inspire you
- To provide life lessons so you don't make the same mistakes
- To provide advice on a problem you are having
Well if you are looking for stories that hit on any of the three bullets above, then this book is not for you!
I had high hopes for this book after reading the synopsis. I was expecting either shocking secrets to be shared or inspirational stories. Instead, every story in this book was dark and heavy and had a lot of trauma and/or pain in them. Honestly, I can't believe I finished the book. There were multiple times that I just wanted to throw the book out the window, but I pushed through. At the beginning of the book, the author said that she wanted to help others, but how does exploiting someone's pain help them? Overall, I would not recommend this book to others.