Tell Me More Book Summary

Book Summary

15 min

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Brief Summary

It can be hard to find the right words to say when life presents us with really tough moments. In Kelly Corrigan’s Book, Stories About the Twelve Hardest Things I’m Learning to Say, she chronicles these events, and what she learned how to say (the hard way). From dealing with a catastrophic mess made by the family dog to untangling the aftermath when she wrongly accused someone of doing something they had no part in, to dealing with serious questions after her father’s cancer diagnosis, Kelly has had her fair share of difficult situations. She reflects on what happened, what it taught her about love and relationships, and what she’s learning to say (or not say) when things get tough. Read on to learn: why offering a solution sometimes isn’t helpful, what to say when you blow it big time, and how to find peace when it feels like everything around you has dissolved into chaos.

About the Author

Kelly Corrigan is an American writer and graduate of The University of Richmond. She received a master’s in Literature from San Francisco State University. She is the host of Foreword, a series that focuses on experts such as Walter Isaacson taking on big ideas. Her first book was “The Middle Place” focused on her Irish-American father battle with cancer and his ability to survive. It reached #2 on the nonfiction New York Times bestseller list.

Her second book, Lift, reached #2 of the New York Times bestseller list. It’s written in the form of a letter of a mom to her children and focuses on risk and parenthood through the lens of three stories. She has written for The Oprah Magazine, Good Housekeeping, Glamour, and other renowned publications.

She has battled cancer. She launched Circus of Cancer, a how-to website for friends and family of women with the disease. The website includes images of her experiences with the disease as well as writings describing her experience.

Topics

Biography & Memoir

Tell Me More Book Summary Preview

Events in life would be significantly easier if things always went as expected. However, as many know, life can be messy, unpredictable, and disastrous. In these moments, it can be hard to find the right thing to say. In Kelly Corrigan’s Book, Stories About the Twelve Hardest Things I’m Learning to Say, she chronicles these events, and what she learned how to say (the hard way). From dealing with a catastrophic mess made by the family dog to untangling the aftermath when she wrongly accused someone of doing something they had no part in, Kelly has had her fair share of messy situations. She reflects on what happened, what it taught her about love and relationships, and what she’s learning to say (or not say) in tough situations. Read on to learn about the words she found, and along the way, maybe find a few of your own.

Just like this

Kelly was having a difficult morning. Just three months ago her father had died of cancer, and she felt as though she were drowning in grief. That, paired with the regular obstacles of the morning, felt like too much to handle. She noted with aggravation how her husband, Edward, wasn’t answering the telephone as he made himself eggs and bacon for breakfast. He just let it ring. Probably due to the noise of cooking. Not that it was quiet anywhere else in the house: her daughters were in a yelling match in the other room. She knew that eventually, it would be her job to break up the fighting match. Ed had read a single parenting book that suggested the solution to fighting was to just let them fight. Easy enough for him to say, he didn’t have to deal with the aftermath. She considered her husband deeply, how she didn’t know if she ever really loved him. As her family inched towards successfully leaving the house, she realized the kitchen was a disaster: egg shells dripped and mounds of dog fur lurked beneath the table. Edward appeared, ready for work, and her anger boiled. She hadn’t had time to get ready at all. Soon, everyone was out of the house, leaving Kelly alone with her thoughts. She wondered what had happened. She loved her family, and she hated being a grouch that her husband was itching to get away from in the morning. That’s when she remembered a phrase her meditation teacher told her, sometimes life is “just like this”. Sometimes, like Kelly, we are caught in a formidable storm of emotions that cause pain. If we can accept that life is “just like this”, we can feel relief, accept our surroundings, and endure the storm.

Listen.

Sometimes when someone presents us with a problem they are going through, our strongest instinct is to give them advice about how we would solve the problem. Kelly certainly felt that impulse with her daughters, Claire and Georgia. She didn’t want them to hurt, and she felt like giving them a solution to their problems...