This put me in mind of articles I have read in women's magazines about how people have faced adversity and come out of it stronger or wiser and made changes in their lives. These articles are supposed to be motivational but on the whole I suspect most readers are not inspired to take action, but find them fascinating reading because we are so interested in other people's lives.
I don't think Christina Patterson is claiming to be inspirational but she has written an interesting book about surviving difficult times as experienced by her or friends and interviewees.
There are no startling insights, though she does reinforce some familiar ideas about what is important for happiness, including good friends (reminding us that friendship needs to be worked at), appreciating small pleasures, love and kindness, and finding fulfilling work that may not be our ideal but can help finance our real passions.
The author is clearly no fan of self-help books but her writing may encourage us to take stock of our own lives and try to do better.
I don't think Christina Patterson is claiming to be inspirational but she has written an interesting book about surviving difficult times as experienced by her or friends and interviewees.
There are no startling insights, though she does reinforce some familiar ideas about what is important for happiness, including good friends (reminding us that friendship needs to be worked at), appreciating small pleasures, love and kindness, and finding fulfilling work that may not be our ideal but can help finance our real passions.
The author is clearly no fan of self-help books but her writing may encourage us to take stock of our own lives and try to do better.