The Love of My Life | Cheryl Strayed 

Strayed's mother dies, and the grief detonates her life; she cheats on her husband and blows up her marriage. In this essay she tries to make sense of her grief.

I am really not sure how to feel about this essay. It’s certainly very, very good writing. But it pissed me off because her ex-husband was sort of brought up like a prop in a play and I do think she glosses over how much damage she caused (her mother’s death is, by all means, an insufficient excuse for her behavior; I was disgusted by that much). But then I am not sure if I disliked the essay, because part of my perceived anger is the feeling that she “got away with it,” and I think it’s unfair to judge writing this way.