Is There Happiness in Slow Love? - A Book Review

What would you do with a year?  

Dominique Browning’s memoir, Slow Love, explores what happens when an editor-in-chief loses her job and is forced to reevaluate her attachments and general outlook on life.

Two facets of Slow Love may irk readers.

When Ms. Browning loses her job, she isn't in a dire financial situation.  She mentions she has spent years living frugally.  However, her relative frugality includes owning two homes and having enough money to take a year off from work, except for freelance consulting jobs.

In my opinion, her financial security doesn’t change the emotional impact of losing her job; someone with such an all-encompassing career may have an even more difficult time accepting a job loss, because so much of her self-worth was tied to that career. 

I had a more difficult time understanding her dysfunctional relationship with her legally separated boyfriend, Stroller.  I expected Slow Love to be an intensely personal journey, a breaking down of personal perceptions, and I found an inordinate amount of time spent on her relationship.

Browning’s memoir spoke to me on a visceral level.  When she writes about playing the piano and her relationship with music, her time in her garden, the tiny sea creatures in the vastness of the ocean, her prose is achingly descriptive and evocative.

Towards the end of Slow Love, Browning states, “Stroller doesn’t even come into my thoughts very often anymore.”  I only wish he wasn’t such a force throughout the majority of the memoir.

Join the BlogHer Book Club discussion on Dominique Browning's Slow Love! 

If you haven't yet read the book, you can read an excerpt, meet the author, or share your opinions about shaking a toxic relationship.

This was a paid review for BlogHer Book Club.  
I received a copy of Slow Love to read and review and was compensated for this post, but all the opinions expressed are my own.