Maybe You Should Talk to Someone: A Therapist, Her Therapist, and Our Lives Revealed by Lori Gottlieb – 415 pages
Book Blurb:
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.Sev
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.
My Review: 4.5 stars
Maybe You Should Talk to Someone came with rave reviews from you – my followers on Facebook and Instagram. Thank you! I’m so glad I read this book; it educated me, enlightened me and made me laugh and/or cry multiple times. Why a 4.5 and not a 5? Strictly because of length. I think the story could’ve been shortened to keep me 100% engaged, rather than drifting away towards the final pages.
Lori wrote this book through a lens focused on her patients, her therapist and most of all, herself. She was vulnerable, honest and let the reader see that she was by no means perfect. It made her just like one of us. I liked that she normalized therapy and showed us why people seek out therapy and how it can work.
The three clients she used as examples of her work: John, Rita and Julie, became beloved by the reader. I laughed, cried and rooted for them. Lori’s recounting of her therapy sessions with Wendell were spot on. I’m not ashamed to say I’ve been in therapy and yes, I wanted the therapist to like me. I loved having someone listen to me, for fifty unadulterated minutes.
Lori’s breakup and heartache fueled her to seek therapy, I’d love to know how she is now. This book would make a great gift for anyone. It sucks you in from the start and keeps you rooted to the story. Well done!
Quotes I liked:
It’s impossible to get to know people deeply and not come to like them.”
“If the queen had balls, she’d be the king.”
“But part of getting to know yourself is to unknow yourself—to let go of the limiting stories you’ve told yourself about who you are so that you aren’t trapped by them, so you can live your life and not the story you’ve been telling yourself about your life.”
“We can’t have change without loss, which is why so often people say they want change but nonetheless stay exactly the same.”
“Sometimes we are the cause of our difficulties. And if we can step out of our own way, something astonishing happens.”
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