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Title details for What Looks Like Bravery by Laurel Braitman - Available

What Looks Like Bravery

An Epic Journey Through Loss to Love

by Laurel Braitman
Laurel Braitman
Audiobook
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A true story about the ways loss can transform us into the people we want to become.
"What Looks Like Bravery is a gorgeous, tender, and beautiful book. I'm in tears with the happy-sad truth and beauty of it. Laurel is a magnificent writer." —Cheryl Strayed, New York Times bestselling author of Wild
Laurel Braitman spent her childhood learning from her dad how to out-fish grown men, keep bees, and fix carburetors. Diagnosed young with terminal cancer, he raced against the clock to leave her the skills she'd need to survive without him. This was one legacy. Another was relentless perfectionism and the belief that bravery meant never acknowledging your own fear.
By her mid-thirties Laurel is a ship about to splinter on the rocks, having learned the hard way that no achievement can protect her from pain or remove the guilt and regret her dad's death leaves her with. So, she determines to explore her troubled internal wilderness by way of some big exterior ones—Northern New Mexico, Western Alaska, her Tinder App. She finds help from a wise birder in the Bering Sea, a few dozen grieving kids, and a succession of smart teachers who convince her that you cannot be brave if you're not scared. Along the way, she faces a wildfire that threatens everyone and everything she cares about and is forced by life to say another wrenching goodbye long before she wants to. This time she may not be ready, but she's prepared. Joy in the wake of loss, she learns, isn't possible despite the hardest things that happen to us, but because of the meaning we forge from them.

  • Creators

  • Publisher

  • Release date

    March 14, 2023

  • Formats

    • OverDrive Listen audiobook

      • ISBN: 9781797155692
      • File size: 232075 KB
      • Duration: 08:03:29

  • Languages

    • English

  • Reviews

    • Publisher's Weekly

      March 6, 2023
      In this inspiring memoir, science writer Braitman (Animal Madness) digs into her early experiences with loss to illuminate how grief shaped her well into her adulthood. Raised on an idyllic Southern California ranch populated with peacocks and burros, Braitman learned lessons of survival and courage from her father, a surgeon who died of cancer just as she was preparing for college. The author promptly put her head down and barreled through a series of academic and professional milestones until several painful losses forced her to reckon with the unspoken fears that underpinned her relationship to ambition, success, and love. “Sometimes, what looks like bravery is just us being scared of something else even more,” she writes of her eventual realization. Braitman’s experiences led her on a pilgrimage with stops at a center for grieving children, a consultation with a psychic, and a naked solo spiritual fast in New Mexico, all in service of reacquainting herself with long-buried emotions. Her prose is shot through with rigor and intellectual curiosity, resulting in a candid study of one woman’s long path to emotional peace. This is perfect for anyone looking to heal a broken heart. Agent: Barney Karpfinger, Karpfinger Agency.

    • AudioFile Magazine
      Laurel Braitman has worked hard to get to a place of peace and self-awareness after years of ignoring the grief of losing her father to cancer. That knowledge imbues every word she speaks, resulting in a performance that further elevates her story. Even when she's making lousy choices and oversharing them, her authenticity draws the listener in. Braitman has a fine voice and beautiful pacing, and she captures emotional depth like a professional. Her memoir is a love letter to her parents, both of whom are quirky, loving, and resolute. As an adult, Braitman volunteers at a center for grieving children, and those children are full of wisdom. She concludes that maybe there isn't a happy-ever-after in life, but if you can get to happy-sad, that's a pretty good outcome. A.B. © AudioFile 2023, Portland, Maine

Formats

  • OverDrive Listen audiobook

subjects

Languages

  • English

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