So Sad Today
Personal Essays
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4.5 • 65 Ratings
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- $11.99
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- $11.99
Publisher Description
From acclaimed poet and creator of the popular twitter account @SoSadToday comes the darkly funny and brutally honest collection of essays that Roxane Gay called "sad and uncomfortable and their own kind of gorgeous."
Melissa Broder always struggled with anxiety. In the fall of 2012, she went through a harrowing cycle of panic attacks and dread that wouldn't abate for months. So she began @sosadtoday, an anonymous Twitter feed that allowed her to express her darkest feelings, and which quickly gained a dedicated following. In So Sad Today, Broder delves deeper into the existential themes she explores on Twitter, grappling with sex, death, love low self-esteem, addiction, and the drama of waiting for the universe to text you back.
With insights as sharp as her humor, Broder explores--in prose that is both ballsy and beautiful, aggressively colloquial and achingly poetic--questions most of us are afraid to even acknowledge, let alone answer, in order to discover what it really means to be a person in this modern world.
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
In this delightful collection of 18 essays, Broder embarks on an earnest, sophisticated inquiry into the roots and expressions of her own sadness. Already known as a poet (Last Sext) and author of the @SoSadToday Twitter account, here she joins a new generation of essayists whose voices have been shaped by the conventions of digital communication. Quoting generously from chat logs and sexts, Broder's deeply confessional writing brings disarming humor and self-scrutiny to secrets that include embarrassing sexual fantasies and her habit of eating a "whole pint of diet ice cream with six packets of Equal poured into it." The essays span an impressive range of topics: abortion and the decision not to have children, substance abuse and sobriety, experiments with antidepressants, and monogamy with a chronically ill partner. They can occasionally border on the self-indulgent, but even during these rare lapses, Broder's central insight is clear: it is okay to be sad, and our problems can't be reduced to a single diagnosis. All of the essays are linked together by the art of learning to love oneself, sadness and all.
Customer Reviews
As addicting as Twitter
I loved to read, but I can't anymore because the internet, social media, and horrible Vice articles shrunk my attention span to the size of a peanut. However, this book commanded me to read it from start to finish. I would think about it when I couldn't read it and it would make my palms sweat. I had to strategically save it for when I was at my lowest and when I realized I had almost finished it I had to stall so I wouldn't have to face the soul crushing agony. It is a stunning, super candid and wretched look into addiction (to many things, including love, drugs, the internet) and mental illness. It is also incredibly fresh and not to mention relatable. Broder's writing style and subjects are inspiring and empowering. Pick up this book and you will not put it down.
So GLAD today
...that this exists.
Is that relatable? Yes, indeed!
Thank you for writing this. You gave a voice and words and pages to what so many of us feel, and what I personally need is to read relatable material. Your depression seems debilitating. Mine is too. That identification, as the reader, is/was so important. I'll be recommending this for sure.
The only reason it's not 5 stars is because I wish there was more on your anxiety and depression in place of the sexting chapter. I didn't want this to end. Thanks again.