Review: Slow Love by Dominique Browning

The editor-in-chief of House & Garden magazine, Browning was blindsided when the magazine folded. All of a sudden, the job and life that had defined her for over a decade didn't exist and she was left wondering what to do with herself. She carefully details her different strategies as she come to terms with her new life. And while her sacrifices aren't nearly as drastic as those that some people who have lost their jobs have had to make, they were no less painful and hard for her to make for all that. And she has beautifully captured the nuances of feeling, the treading water, and the eventual courage to let go that often accompany the loss of identity that so many in the business world experience when their jobs disappear.

A slow, contemplative read, the pace allows the reader to really consider much of what Browning was discovering for herself. It is very well-written and sprinkled with humor. There are moments where it is hard to find sympathy for Browning: having to sell one of her two homes and continually returning to a married (but legally separated) lover who is clearly using her but to whom she is too addicted to break free. But her honesty and introspection and the very real feelings that she faces at things like the loss of her carefully and lovingly tended garden are among the things that counterbalance these other factors. Slowing down and fully experiencing even the small things in the world around you is always good advice, whether it is given by a woman spending yet another day in her jammies or by a woman once she's come through the other side of the experience and learned to embrace a new life and a new identity.

Thanks to the publisher for sending me a copy of this book to review.