Maybe You Should Talk to Someone

I saw Maybe You Should Talk to Someone: A Therapist, Her Therapist, and Our Lives Revealed by Lori Gottlieb advertised on social media and was intrigued by the title, so I got it from the library. The book description reads, "From a New York Times best-selling author, psychotherapist, and national advice columnist, a hilarious, thought-provoking, and surprising new book [memoir] 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 twenty-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."

This book was SO good! I really just loved it. It made me laugh out loud, it made me cry, it made me reflect on myself--It was just a wonderful read. (The only downside of the book is it had quite a bit of bad language, which isn't usually my preference in reading. But mentioning this for others who try to avoid bad language in books.) I loved Lori and how real she was as she struggled to cope with the hard things she faced (especially since she's a therapist and has so many good answers for those she worked with). I loved following her behind the scenes thought processes throughout the book. I loved her therapist, Wendell. I loved the patients she met with. All of it. It was just a very thoughtful read that also is such a positive look at the benefits of therapy.

Rating: * * * (3/3 = Loved it)