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Sad Happens: A Celebration of Tears
A beautifully illustrated, celebratory anthology exploring sadness—and the transformative power of tears.
When was the last time you cried? Was it because you were sad? Or happy? Overwhelmed, or frustrated? Maybe from relief or from pride? Was it in public or in private? Did you feel better afterwards, or worse? The reasons that we cry—and the circumstances in which we shed a tear—are often surprising and beautiful. Sad Happens is a collective, multi-faceted archive of tears that captures the complexity and variety of these circumstances.
We hear from Mike Birbiglia on the role that grief and pain have in comedy; Jia Tolentino on how motherhood made her cry in both hormonal joy and fervent rage; and Hanif Abdurraqib on the intimacy of crying on planes. We hear from Phoebe Bridgers on poignant moments of departure and JP Brammer on the strange disappointments of success; Matt Berninger on becoming a crybaby in his adulthood and Hua Hsu on crying during a moment of public uncertainty. We also hear from everyday people in a range of an actor on the tips she learned from drag queens about preserving a full face of makeup while crying; a zookeeper on mourning the animals who have died during her tenure; a bartender on crying in the walk-in; and a TV critic on the shows that have moved her.
Brimming with humanity, this anthology is confirmation that sad happens—but so does joy, love, a sense of community, and a host of other emotions. By turns moving and affirming, Sad Happens is an emotional balm and visual delight.
When was the last time you cried? Was it because you were sad? Or happy? Overwhelmed, or frustrated? Maybe from relief or from pride? Was it in public or in private? Did you feel better afterwards, or worse? The reasons that we cry—and the circumstances in which we shed a tear—are often surprising and beautiful. Sad Happens is a collective, multi-faceted archive of tears that captures the complexity and variety of these circumstances.
We hear from Mike Birbiglia on the role that grief and pain have in comedy; Jia Tolentino on how motherhood made her cry in both hormonal joy and fervent rage; and Hanif Abdurraqib on the intimacy of crying on planes. We hear from Phoebe Bridgers on poignant moments of departure and JP Brammer on the strange disappointments of success; Matt Berninger on becoming a crybaby in his adulthood and Hua Hsu on crying during a moment of public uncertainty. We also hear from everyday people in a range of an actor on the tips she learned from drag queens about preserving a full face of makeup while crying; a zookeeper on mourning the animals who have died during her tenure; a bartender on crying in the walk-in; and a TV critic on the shows that have moved her.
Brimming with humanity, this anthology is confirmation that sad happens—but so does joy, love, a sense of community, and a host of other emotions. By turns moving and affirming, Sad Happens is an emotional balm and visual delight.
287 pages, Kindle Edition
First published November 14, 2023
9 people are currently reading
78 people want to read
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Displaying 1 - 5 of 5 reviews
August 25, 2023
I’m so grateful Simon & Schuster reached out to me and offered a promotional copy of this book for the early reader campaign!
The hardcover copy is absolutely beautiful. It feels great to hold in my hands, and the full-color illustrations add so much character. There were some spacing tweaks that could’ve been made and pages 220-221 were in a different font but no other complaints about the physical book itself!
My main wish is that the pieces were ordered thematically. I recognize the motive behind wanting “to remove any sort of hierarchy” by listing the stories “in alphabetical order by the crier’s last name,” but I don’t think thematic ordering would’ve resulted in a “ranking” of the pieces.
That aside, there’s a lot of personality in this collection. My favorite pieces were by Adam Schatz (198-199) and Shy Watson (254-255), while the pieces that made me cry were by ‘Nathan Burgoine (43-44), Sasha Grey (101-102), Pepper Hart (106-107), and Olivia Lineberry (142-143).
The hardcover copy is absolutely beautiful. It feels great to hold in my hands, and the full-color illustrations add so much character. There were some spacing tweaks that could’ve been made and pages 220-221 were in a different font but no other complaints about the physical book itself!
My main wish is that the pieces were ordered thematically. I recognize the motive behind wanting “to remove any sort of hierarchy” by listing the stories “in alphabetical order by the crier’s last name,” but I don’t think thematic ordering would’ve resulted in a “ranking” of the pieces.
That aside, there’s a lot of personality in this collection. My favorite pieces were by Adam Schatz (198-199) and Shy Watson (254-255), while the pieces that made me cry were by ‘Nathan Burgoine (43-44), Sasha Grey (101-102), Pepper Hart (106-107), and Olivia Lineberry (142-143).
August 3, 2023
Sad Happens: A Celebration of Tears by Brandon Stosuy and illustrated by Rose Lazar, is a compilation of brief pieces on the subject and experience of crying.
A difficult book to categorize.
I loved the diversity of expression contained within, and the addition of artwork is truly elevating.
However, I found the book both too lengthy, perhaps having to do with the many times I was moved to tears myself, and yet not quite descending to the depth and complexity I would truly have appreciated. I also found the voices to contain an oftentimes surprisingly surface level treatment of something raw, vulnerable and universal.
Some highlights include works from Hayter, Hinte, Hughes and Taylor.
A big thank you to Simon and Schuster for offering and providing a digital Advanced Readers Copy free of charge. All opinions are my own.
A difficult book to categorize.
I loved the diversity of expression contained within, and the addition of artwork is truly elevating.
However, I found the book both too lengthy, perhaps having to do with the many times I was moved to tears myself, and yet not quite descending to the depth and complexity I would truly have appreciated. I also found the voices to contain an oftentimes surprisingly surface level treatment of something raw, vulnerable and universal.
Some highlights include works from Hayter, Hinte, Hughes and Taylor.
A big thank you to Simon and Schuster for offering and providing a digital Advanced Readers Copy free of charge. All opinions are my own.
July 19, 2023
I truly love the concept of this book. I’ve always been a crier, but the last two years I’ve become an ultimate-crier. It was nice to read about how and why other people cry.
Since this was written by so many different people, not every essay hit the same. I enjoyed most of them, there were a handful that made me pause and re-read, but many of them I had to skim because they were just not my cup of tea. You should read this book if you struggle with expressing sadness.
This was given to me by net galley in exchange for a review.
Since this was written by so many different people, not every essay hit the same. I enjoyed most of them, there were a handful that made me pause and re-read, but many of them I had to skim because they were just not my cup of tea. You should read this book if you struggle with expressing sadness.
This was given to me by net galley in exchange for a review.
November 14, 2023
I love the topic, so I wanted to like this more than I ended up liking it. It could work for different types of readers, but this was my first time reading an anthology of so many short writings as opposed to maybe 15 ones with more depth. The result was that I didn’t find myself resonating with the emotional themes because the writings would usually end before I even settled into a rhythm of reading them. Shelby Hinte’s section made it worth the read to me, and I also enjoyed Daniel Tam-Claiborne’s.
The editor made a really good decision to have an artist create imagery for each individual writing as well. I did wish for a more diverse array of contributors, though, as most were creatives (lots of musicians and writers) and I wanted something more representative of the tears shed outside my bubble.
Thank you to S&S for giving me access to read this book early!
The editor made a really good decision to have an artist create imagery for each individual writing as well. I did wish for a more diverse array of contributors, though, as most were creatives (lots of musicians and writers) and I wanted something more representative of the tears shed outside my bubble.
Thank you to S&S for giving me access to read this book early!
August 5, 2023
[Solicited review of eGalley]
Not so much a celebration of tears as, self-described by the editor, an archive. This is a collection of essays about the personal when, where, and how of crying. It's not a self-help book meant to free everyone up to let lose in public. It is a literary demonstration that we are not alone. And its most notable feature is that it, intentionally or not, has a soundtrack. From Bon Iver's Holocene to Randy Newman's theme from Toy Story, there are 50 or so songs or bands referenced in this work and I listened to almost all of them while reading these essays.
Not so much a celebration of tears as, self-described by the editor, an archive. This is a collection of essays about the personal when, where, and how of crying. It's not a self-help book meant to free everyone up to let lose in public. It is a literary demonstration that we are not alone. And its most notable feature is that it, intentionally or not, has a soundtrack. From Bon Iver's Holocene to Randy Newman's theme from Toy Story, there are 50 or so songs or bands referenced in this work and I listened to almost all of them while reading these essays.
Displaying 1 - 5 of 5 reviews