Life Happens: And Other Unavoidable Truths

by Connie Schultz

From the 2005 Pulitzer Prize—winning columnist Connie Schultz comes fresh, clever, insightful commentary on life love, politics, social issues, family, and much, much more. In the tradition of Anna Quindlen, Molly Ivins, and Erma Bombeck, but with a distinctive voice and sensibility all her own, Connie Schultz comes out of the heartland of America to get you seeing, feeling, and thinking more deeply about the lives we lead today.“You might spot someone you know in the stories here,” writes Connie. “Maybe you’ll even find a glimpse of yourself. Yes, each of us is unique, but life happens in ways that bind us like Gorilla Glue.” In Life Happens, Connie shares sharp, passionate observations, winning our hearts with personal thoughts on a wide range of topics, from finding love in middle age to the meaning behind her father’s lunch pail, from single motherhood, to who really gets the tips you leave and why as the war in Iraq, race relations, gay marriage, and why women don’t vote. In a more humorous vein, Connie shares her mother’s advice on men (“Don’t marry him until you see how he treats the waitress”) and warns men everywhere against using the dreaded f-word (it’s not the one you think). Along the way, Connie introduces us to the heroic people who populate our world and shows us how just one person can make a difference.Charming, provocative, funny, and perceptive, Life Happens gives us, for the first time, Connie Schultz’s celebrated commentary in one irresistible volume. Life Happens challenges us to be more open and alive to others and to the world around us.From the Hardcover edition.

Genres: Nonfiction, Essays, Memoir

304 pages, Kindle Edition

First published January 1, 2006

About the author

Connie Schultz is a Pulitzer Prize-winning writer, a nationally syndicated columnist with Creators Syndicate, and Professional in Residence in the journalism school at Kent State University, her alma mater. She is the author of two memoirs: "Life Happens" and "…And His Lovely Wife." Her first novel, "The Daughters of Erietown," will be published on June 9, 2020.

Schultz lives in Cleveland with her husband, Sherrod Brown, and their two rescue dogs, Franklin and Walter. They have four children and seven grandchildren.

Reviews

[aarya]

DNF. Why did I buy an ebook at full price just because I followed someone on twitter… The universe is full of mysteries. This appears to be mostly old columns and advice, not a memoir with a narrative.

[Kathleen Nalley · Rating 5 out of 5]

I so enjoy reading a collection of Connie Schultz’s columns and her ever hopeful and pragmatic observations.

[Debra · Rating 3 out of 5]

Very witty and well written, and I found myself laughing out loud at times. However, not all of the content was interesting.

[Ben Pushka · Rating 3 out of 5]

For me, it is tough to rate a book like this. I picked up this book because Mrs. Schultz was coming to speak at campus, and finally have gotten around to it. While interesting, it was difficult to just sit and read through, because the subject matter changed every few pages. With that said, it is a wonderful collection of articles written. I just wished that they would have had dates of publication on them, because for some of the stories (especially the ones about the Iraq War) it was difficult to figure out the time frame and context that she was writing them in. But overall, easy, yet informative read.

[Connie Ciampanelli · Rating 5 out of 5]

I chose this book for a year-long book challenge. The prompt for this one? "By an author who shares your name."

Over the past few decades I've read lots of Connie Schultz's columns. Any time I had a chance. Not only is she a fine writer whose work is fluid, cogent, and clear, but it is also filled with compassion and heart. I leapt at the chance to read this collection, Life Happens.

I was not disappointed.

The surprise is that these columns, written for the Cleveland Plain Dealer between 2001 and 2005, are completely relevant in 2022. Schultz addresses "a country deeply divided," attacks against the "other" and the need for acceptance, whether they are other races, other religions, other nationalities, other genders, other socio/economic statuses. She touches on divorce and remarriage, on blue collar workers, on helping those who need it ("They aren't con artists. They are fellow human beings who can't quite believe what has happened to their American dream").

She talks about values different kinds of families:

When I was a kid, no one talked about family values. We just lived them, one dad at a time, as best we could. In our working-class neighborhood, we had married parents, widowed parents, divorced parents, and neighbors who never married but acted like surrogate parents to every kid on the street. When my mom went to work as a nurse's aid, no one suggested she was abandoning her children. Maybe it's because they knew she was trying to make it possible for her children to do what she never got to do, which is got to college. Maybe they just thought it was none of their business...These days, it seems that everyone has an opinion on what it means to be a family, who qualifies and who doesn't. But just like the families on the streets of my childhood, most homes are filled with people doing the best they can.

Schultz illustrates with stories of folks around Cleveland, where she lives and works, and those of her own family. All of them are emblematic of people all over the Unites States. I read aloud to my husband her essay on her father in his blue collar job. I had difficulty getting through it, fighting back my tight throat and teary eyes.

She talks of the unutterable pain of parents sending their children off to war and what happens to the family and the community when those mighty soldiers come home in body bags. She addresses those whose goal is to force their faith on all others, extreme right wing conservative "Christians" who "[claim] they own the only map to Salvation." She says, "I was raised to believe that being a Christian meant fixing ourselves and helping others, not the other way around." Yes.

These stories, though, are not all heavy. There is laughter as well as tears. She is hilarious in relating, for instance, the ordeals of getting a teenager out of bed in the morning, in getting them a driver's license, of the joy of coaching a child's soft-ball team, or the poignancy of sending them off to college, of the inestimable joy of finding true love in a second, happy marriage.

Schultz doesn't throw stones from a glass house; she admits to her own faults and prejudices and her lifelong struggle to overcome them, to treat others with care and love and empathy. It's what makes her essays so deeply engaging. She beckons us into her thoughtful world: "You might spot someone you know in the stories here. Maybe you'll even find a glimpse of yourself. Yes, yes, I know each of us is unique, but life happens in ways that bind us..."

Indeed.

Outstanding.
Highly recommended.

[Audrey Ashbrook · Rating 5 out of 5]

Life Happens and Other Unavoidable Truths by Connie Shultz is a collection of Connie's columns/essays that discuss love, relationships, parenthood, family, jobs, women, writing, politics and war. 

Some of my favorites were: A Gift That Mom Would Have Loved, Stories to Make Us Stop and Wonder, A Father's Gift Gives Him Away, Exchanging Sweet Nothings, A Ringing Cell Phone Has My Number, Neighborhood Kids Mourn a Friend, A Tot's Best Friend Is Her Blankie, A Promise In a Lunch Pail, Here's A Little Tip About Gratuities, and No Living Wage, Airport Aides, And You Think It's a Pain to Vote, and A Perfect Couple, An Imperfect World. 

I also enjoyed the entire section titled "Battle Fatigue" about the people who fought and died, from Ohio and around the country, during the war in Iraq. Incredibly powerful stories and words. 

This was a compelling and thoughtful collection of columns/essays. I am excited to read more by Connie Schultz.

[Monika · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book is about 12 years old, but a lot of Connie's tales are just as relevant today. I found her when she was a columnist for Parade magazine and really like her style. This book is full of short articles she's published over the years, sometime political, sometimes just life lessons. Enjoyable read.

[Anne · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book is made up of her columns, organized by theme, and even though it is over 10 years old they are still relevant. Found myself tearing up at many of them. I read a few a day, over a couple of weeks.

[Joanne Buchanan · Rating 5 out of 5]

Connie Schultz is the Best!

Some stories I remembered but many I'd missed when the Plain Dealer no longer delivered to my rural address. No one captures the reality and thoughts of so many of us like she does. Reading any of her work is like a long letter from an old friend.

[Julie · Rating 4 out of 5]

I almost skipped this book when I saw the copyright date of 2006. But I used to enjoy Connie's columns in the Plain Dealer. Surprisingly, a lot of the columns in this book are still relevant. I even remembered a few of them. Enjoyable read.

[Shena Vasko · Rating 5 out of 5]

She made me laugh. She made me cry. Best of all, she made me reflect. Bonus: I learned the true meaning of "peruse." You think you know what that means? Ha! Look it up! :)

[Jean · Rating 5 out of 5]

I loved this book! I also grew up in Ashtabula and have been blessed to know some of the people she mentioned in this book. It is very inspiring and makes me want to be a nicer person.

[Ellen Mccafferty · Rating 4 out of 5]

Lovely compilation of her essays. Laughed and wept.

[Sarah · Rating 4 out of 5]

4.5

[Lynda · Rating 3 out of 5]

I really like this columnist and her articles. The only reason for the low rating is that this collection of essays is from 2006. I wonder what she's writing about now, what with trump and all.

[Linda Spear · Rating 4 out of 5]

An older (2007) book of Connie's that I had not read. I just love her writing.

[Kristina · Rating 5 out of 5]

Masterful writing.

[marilyn · Rating 4 out of 5]

Editing after reading the final third: She just packed a whollop on me. I was in tears in public at the chapter on war, ever so pleased by her commentary on religion, ready to buy copies for all the moms in my life after reading the last chapter on her daughter growing up.

I also excerpted this one bit.

--

Heartwarming and funny, though it feels a little strange to be reading on the subway, like people will think I read Erma Bombeck and the "Life in These United States" blurbs in Reader's Digest.

Connie Schultz is smart and funny and I like her tremendously, it's just this is aimed at a little more of the middle-aged heartland than at my urbn trendsetting lifestyle, I suppose. It doesn't stop me from tearing up on the train, though.

[Tracy · Rating 3 out of 5]

This was a good book in terms of getting you to think about some of the day-to-day stuff in your life. She touches on raising children, prejudice, money etc. I do believe she spends too many chapters talking about war, it became repetitive. She made her point after the first few chapters on war. All in all a good book to read if you just want to pick it up from time to time and read a chapter or two. Thought-provoking, but the chapter breaks make it easy to pick up and set down.

[Sophie · Rating 5 out of 5]

I'm a long-time Connie Schultz fan, and this book lived up to all the expectations. It's a collection of her columns from the Plain Dealer. They talk about a wide variety of topics — including her marriage, family, dog, politics, labor and feminism. I always enjoy a book with a different kind of reading style — this one was easy to pick up when I had just a few minutes, as each column was only a few pages. I'd recommend this to anyone.

[Evelyn · Rating 5 out of 5]

Cleveland Plain Dealer columnist Connie Schultz is known for her columns that provide a voice for the underdog and underprivileged. This collection of stories showcases her passion for making the world a better place.


You'll laugh, you'll cry, but you'll never be indifferent after reading this book. Connie's reflections about her father are especially poignant. Highly recommend.

[Karen · Rating 4 out of 5]

I can't remember why I put this on my Good Reads To Read list, but I am so happy I did. It was such a refreshing look at life and I love Connie's attitude although don't agree with all of her politics. I especially enjoyed the essays about men and women in the military. Her journey with her daughter through childhood to college also made me weep.

[Alison · Rating 5 out of 5]

I loved reading through Connie Schultz's columns and have since bookmarked her newspaper to read her columns each week. She has interesting thoughts on the world we live in, and it makes you think about your own actions...

[Tori · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is a collection of her best columns (she's a Plain Dealer columnist). She's a great writer, and her columns are always entertaining. Sections on politics (she's pretty liberal), relationships, career, etc.

[Heidi · Rating 2 out of 5]

This was a fast, easy read. After reading, I am inspired to be a better writer. I found myself rolling my eyes at several of her opinions, but also laughed out loud and got teary eyed while reading as well. Interesting.

[Lori Ann · Rating 2 out of 5]

I saw Connie Schultz on Real Time with Bill Maher, and she seemed great. Probably is. But the book was just too folksy for me...I went through a number of her articles in the book, but it just got sappy and repetitious for my taste.

[Katie Townley · Rating 5 out of 5]

This collection of columns by Connie Schultz was awesome. Some were funny, some sad, some serious, all quick reads since they are columns. Sharing this woman's political/social/religious views will affect how much you'll like it.

[Amanda Ishtayeh · Rating 3 out of 5]

This was a great read with short "columns". She is a very talented, passionate reader who rights about life and how it is. She came from a working class upbringing so she really relates to everyone. Read it!

[Ilana Waters · Rating 5 out of 5]

Heartfelt, intellectual, and thought-provoking. I admire Connie Schultz in so many ways. For the parts of this book that will make you cry, be sure to have some hankies on hand--preferably in a denim pocket. Read "Life Happens" to find out why ;-)

[Debbie Burgess-Shaw · Rating 5 out of 5]

A collection of articles, so the reads are short and quick, but pack a punch. She writes about those lost in war, being a mother, living in political circles and friends and neighbors. I really enjoyed this book and a couple times she brought the tears.