#1 NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER OPRAH S BOOK CLUB PICK The author of the bestselling phenomenon Quiet explores the power of the bittersweet personality, revealing a misunderstood side of mental health and creativity while offering a roadmap to facing heartbreak in order to live life to the fullest.
Bittersweet has the power to transform the way you see your life and the world. OPRAH
Grabs you by the heart and doesn t let go. BRENÉ BROWN, author of Atlas of the Heart
Susan Cain has described and validated my existence once again! GLENNON DOYLE, author of Untamed
The perfect cure for toxic positivity. ADAM GRANT, author of Think Again
LONGLISTED FOR THE PORCHLIGHT BUSINESS BOOK AWARD ONE OF THE BEST BOOKS OF THE YEAR: The Wall Street Journal, Mashable
Bittersweetness is a tendency to states of longðing, poignancy, and sorrow; an acute awareðness of passing time; and a curiously piercing joy at the beauty of the world. It recognizes that light and dark, birth and death bitter and sweet are forever paired.
If you ve ever wondered why you like sad music . . .
If you find comfort or inspiration in a rainy day . . .
If you react intensely to music, art, nature, and beauty . . .
Then you probably identify with the bitterðsweet state of mind.
With Quiet, Susan Cain urged our society to cultivate space for the undervalued, indispensable introverts among us, thereby revealing an unðtapped power hidden in plain sight. Now she emðploys the same mix of research, storytelling, and memoir to explore why we experience sorrow and longing, and how embracing the bittersweetness at the heart of life is the true path to creativity, conðnection, and transcendence.
Cain shows how a bittersweet state of mind is the quiet force that helps us transcend our personal and collective pain, whether from a death or breakup, addiction or illness. If we don t acknowledge our own heartache, she says, we can end up inflicting it on others via abuse, domination, or neglect. But if we realize that all humans know or will know loss and suffering, we can turn toward one another.
At a time of profound discord and personal anxiety, Bittersweet brings us together in deep and unexpected ways.
