As Hitchcock reflects on that journey, readers will be swept into the daily ups and downs of a long-term marriage on the rocks, for no glaring reasons other than a gradual growing apart. Both she and Joe feel the tug of an almost-comfortable sense of isolation weighed against the pain that comes with opening up and admitting “I just want to be loved,” and, as they move towards separation, Hitchcock also confronts her tumultuous childhood—fraught with emotionally absent parents and episodes of sexual assault—and its impact on her ability to bond with other people.
The end of Hitchcock’s marriage triggers a new beginning, and she leans on her Buddhist beliefs to find peace—and a way forward when everything falls apart. That path includes her transformation from student to teacher, as she leads meditation classes inside a federal prison nearby her new home, and, eventually, a solitary life on the ranch that creates inroads for her healing. After much self-work, Hitchcock reflects on her redemption in liberating tones, writing that “I always had a nagging feeling that there was something else, something more, some kind of freedom from my unhappiness,” before proclaiming “we can connect with a goodness inside ourselves and find happiness there.”
Takeaway: Memoir of finding happiness within when life falls apart.
Comparable Titles: Jaymen Chang’s I Love This Version of Myself That You Brought Out, Nora McInerny’s No Happy Endings.
Production grades
Cover: A-
Design and typography: A
Illustrations: N/A
Editing: A
Marketing copy: B+
