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The Crane Wife: A Memoir in Essays
Ten days after calling off her wedding, CJ Hauser went on an expedition to study the whooping crane. After a week wading through the gulf, she realised she had almost signed up to live somebody else's life.
In this intimate, frank and funny memoir in essays, CJ Hauser releases herself from her story of 'how life was supposed to be'. She goes looking for more honest ways of living, for new definitions of love. She kisses internet strangers, officiates a wedding, visits a fertility clinic. She rereads Rebecca in the house her new boyfriend shared with his ex-wife and rewinds Katharine Hepburn in The Philadelphia Story to ask whether you can ever have a fresh start with an old love. She writes about friends and lovers and blood family and chosen family and children and animals and ghosts and a whole planet in this book, and hopes you see all of these as love stories.
The Crane Wife is a book for anyone whose life doesn't look the way they thought it would; for anyone learning to find joy in the unexpected; for anyone trying, if sometimes failing, to build a new sort of life story, a new sort of family, a new sort of home, to live in.
In this intimate, frank and funny memoir in essays, CJ Hauser releases herself from her story of 'how life was supposed to be'. She goes looking for more honest ways of living, for new definitions of love. She kisses internet strangers, officiates a wedding, visits a fertility clinic. She rereads Rebecca in the house her new boyfriend shared with his ex-wife and rewinds Katharine Hepburn in The Philadelphia Story to ask whether you can ever have a fresh start with an old love. She writes about friends and lovers and blood family and chosen family and children and animals and ghosts and a whole planet in this book, and hopes you see all of these as love stories.
The Crane Wife is a book for anyone whose life doesn't look the way they thought it would; for anyone learning to find joy in the unexpected; for anyone trying, if sometimes failing, to build a new sort of life story, a new sort of family, a new sort of home, to live in.
308 pages, Paperback
First published February 1, 2022
About the author
C.J. Hauser
5 books426 followersCJ HAUSER is the author of the novels The From-Aways (William Morrow 2014) and Family of Origin (Doubleday 2019).
Her fiction has appeared in Tin House, Narrative Magazine, TriQuarterly, Esquire, Third Coast, and The Kenyon Review, and she is a recipient of The Amanda Davis Highwire Fiction Award. She holds an MFA from Brooklyn College and a PhD from The Florida State University.
Hauser lives in Hamilton, New York where she teaches creative writing and literature at Colgate University.
Her fiction has appeared in Tin House, Narrative Magazine, TriQuarterly, Esquire, Third Coast, and The Kenyon Review, and she is a recipient of The Amanda Davis Highwire Fiction Award. She holds an MFA from Brooklyn College and a PhD from The Florida State University.
Hauser lives in Hamilton, New York where she teaches creative writing and literature at Colgate University.
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 1,304 reviews
May 6, 2022
The title essay of The Crane Wife is an elegant masterpiece and the essays around it are equally well-crafted and compelling. C.J. Hauser has a very appealing narrative voice. It’s wry but also warm and generous. The essays often end in unexpected places and rarely give you the finitude you want. In an essay about a home of her own, there is an incredible description of a perfect house in Tallahassee where a woman can live happily, alone. There is a lot of intellectual wandering in these essays and also self-examination. As a whole this is a book about a woman affirming her place in the world and the complicated journey she took to get there. There are some repetitive themes. Like girl we get it. You’ve broken up with some men. But still, the writing is so beautiful it’s easy to forgive a minor obsession.
July 12, 2022
I thought the label “memoir in essays” was a little misleading, some of the pieces collected here were presumably custom-made, and all are semi-autobiographical but a fair number, like the phenomenally-successful “The Crane Wife”, read as if they’re examples taken from C J Hauser’s greatest hits. And, although there’s a sense of the author’s background, family, childhood etc, it’s really quite a fragmented self-portrait. Instead, what stood out were recurrent themes revolving around the difficulties of negotiating a sense of self and attempting a successful, all-consuming relationship with another person. This broadens out into musings on the nature of romance and the sorts of cultural expectations about love and marriage Hauser found herself caught up in.
Hauser was keen to avoid referring to “women” in the marketing for her book, and it’s true enough that the kind of writing featured here can cut across gender divides – Alexander Chee’s articles for example. But even though Hauser vaguely refers to herself as queer/bi/pan my overwhelming impression was of being presented with the thoughts and experiences of a hetero woman grappling with her feelings about men, there’s just so much here about men, and men from a woman’s perspective. I think this is part of the reason I found these difficult to connect with at times. And identification is crucial for this kind of writing, an offshoot of the “intelligent” lifestyle feature commonly found in publications like Vogue, The New York Times or The Guardian, which largely depends on setting up moments of recognition for readers. And, like those too, these are intelligent but not too weighty, filled with cultural reference points from books and films: Dorothy in The Wizard of Oz, the dynamic between Scully and Mulder in The X-Files and what The Philadelphia Story asserts about women’s choices when it comes to selecting a man. They’re recognisably part of a tradition that harks back to Nora Ephron and Meghan Daum to Eula Biss and beyond. Although they’re not as consistently witty as Ephron’s essays or as relentlessly incisive as the best of Biss.
It’s not that I didn’t enjoy a number of the entries, I just rarely found myself fully engaged with them. Apart from the title piece which skilfully weaves together Japanese legend, whooping cranes and ducking out of her wedding, I appreciated Hauser’s reflections on Shirley Jackson; her slightly absurdist take on John Belushi and family graveyards; her thoughts on what du Maurier’s Rebecca might teach us about encounters with the ghosts of someone’s former loves; and her frank depiction of the literal horrors of online dating. There are some excellent passages, some pleasing dry humour, and some memorable lines, although the essay structure can start to seem a little formulaic after a while - unlike a conventional memoir that’s intended to be read as a continuous narrative, this would probably work best approached as a collection to dip in and out of.
Thanks to Netgalley UK and publisher Penguin for an ARC
Hauser was keen to avoid referring to “women” in the marketing for her book, and it’s true enough that the kind of writing featured here can cut across gender divides – Alexander Chee’s articles for example. But even though Hauser vaguely refers to herself as queer/bi/pan my overwhelming impression was of being presented with the thoughts and experiences of a hetero woman grappling with her feelings about men, there’s just so much here about men, and men from a woman’s perspective. I think this is part of the reason I found these difficult to connect with at times. And identification is crucial for this kind of writing, an offshoot of the “intelligent” lifestyle feature commonly found in publications like Vogue, The New York Times or The Guardian, which largely depends on setting up moments of recognition for readers. And, like those too, these are intelligent but not too weighty, filled with cultural reference points from books and films: Dorothy in The Wizard of Oz, the dynamic between Scully and Mulder in The X-Files and what The Philadelphia Story asserts about women’s choices when it comes to selecting a man. They’re recognisably part of a tradition that harks back to Nora Ephron and Meghan Daum to Eula Biss and beyond. Although they’re not as consistently witty as Ephron’s essays or as relentlessly incisive as the best of Biss.
It’s not that I didn’t enjoy a number of the entries, I just rarely found myself fully engaged with them. Apart from the title piece which skilfully weaves together Japanese legend, whooping cranes and ducking out of her wedding, I appreciated Hauser’s reflections on Shirley Jackson; her slightly absurdist take on John Belushi and family graveyards; her thoughts on what du Maurier’s Rebecca might teach us about encounters with the ghosts of someone’s former loves; and her frank depiction of the literal horrors of online dating. There are some excellent passages, some pleasing dry humour, and some memorable lines, although the essay structure can start to seem a little formulaic after a while - unlike a conventional memoir that’s intended to be read as a continuous narrative, this would probably work best approached as a collection to dip in and out of.
Thanks to Netgalley UK and publisher Penguin for an ARC
March 11, 2022
I like female-authored essay collections, partly as they're perfect commute reading. In the case of Hauser, I like her wry, observational style but I felt this collection tries to hang together in a way that doesn't quite work. The beginning, especially, seems to aspire to a sort of memoir/autobiography via fragmented family stories, but the shortness of the pieces and fast switches between Hauser and her ancestors felt jittery and too piecemeal.
In contrast, some of the longer pieces such as the 'reading' of The Philadelphia Story starts off well but goes on too long and so becomes repetitive - something that I'm afraid I feel about this collection as a whole. Even reading a couple of pieces while travelling, this didn't have the variation and diversity that might have had more interest for me.
Of course, it's always interesting to get the inside view on someone else's thoughts about love, dating, relationships but the theme of women not speaking up and settling for far less than they need or desire becomes too cyclical and a bit monotonous, however true and important the point is.
So perhaps what I'm saying is that as individual pieces these essays work better than as a collection - they're the sort of essays I'd read in magazines like Stylist or Grazia, with breaks of a week between pieces. Reading them too close together doesn't do them any favours: 3.5 stars.
Thanks to Penguin for an ARC via NetGalley
In contrast, some of the longer pieces such as the 'reading' of The Philadelphia Story starts off well but goes on too long and so becomes repetitive - something that I'm afraid I feel about this collection as a whole. Even reading a couple of pieces while travelling, this didn't have the variation and diversity that might have had more interest for me.
Of course, it's always interesting to get the inside view on someone else's thoughts about love, dating, relationships but the theme of women not speaking up and settling for far less than they need or desire becomes too cyclical and a bit monotonous, however true and important the point is.
So perhaps what I'm saying is that as individual pieces these essays work better than as a collection - they're the sort of essays I'd read in magazines like Stylist or Grazia, with breaks of a week between pieces. Reading them too close together doesn't do them any favours: 3.5 stars.
Thanks to Penguin for an ARC via NetGalley
January 16, 2024
ha sido al terminar #lanoviagrulla cuando he entendido por qué siendo enero la frutería de debajo de casa vende sandías. es que las veía y un escalofrío me recorría todo el cuerpo. era como recordar a la profesora de primero de egb diciendo que no se pueden sumar peras con manzanas. pues esto lo mismo. invierno y sandías no son compatibles. pero resulta que, esa misma semana pero unos días, antes le enviaba un audio a M. para contarle que tenía piscinas en mis uñas. para mi piscina e invierno es otra incompatibilidad . pero aún así era enero y yo las tenía en mis uñas. ¿qué quiere decir esto? no tengo ni idea. resulta que existen sandías siberianas que de manera literal o metafórica se podrán plantar en Siberia para que algún esquimal te diga que es su fruta favorita del mismo modo que existen esmaltes azules en cualquier época del año y tu llegas y decides que color eliges. la narrativa la eliges tú . la historia la eliges tú. habrá cosas que puedas elegir y otras transformar, el resto, los detalles, irán llegando poco a poco, sin darte cuenta. y un poco es lo que he hecho yo con #cjhauser y #lanoviagrulla: las he ido adaptando a mi narrativa, a mis circunstancias. no he visto expediente X y tuve que buscar quien era Mulder y quien Scully y creo que soy un poco ambos, quizás porque soy geminis y llevo la dualidad conmigo. tampoco había visto historias de Philadelphia y aún así sentía que me iba haciendo amiga de la autora. porque en esas diferencias se funda una casa. y una amistad. y un amor. que podría ser enfermera porque se me da mejor cuidar que dejar que me cuiden y cuando intento cambiarlo me siento impostora. pero los impostores de verdad nunca se plantean esto. simplemente se dan la vuelta y se duermen. que la casa de mi sueños tiene chimenea y se ve el bosque y tengo muchos gatos y ovejas y un gran sauce llorón y también mucha gente que viene y va y siempre hay ruido. me gusta ser anfitriona siempre y cuando vengas con invitación. y me gusta plantar tulipanes y narcisos y mirar cada día la tierra hasta que la rompan. que no tengo tinder y jamás lo he usado porque ya me rompieron el corazón y ahora me faltan piezas. y no me vas a convencer de lo contrario. me da un miedo atroz volver a ese camino lleno de huracanes que llevan a Oz, aunque luego allí esté la auténtica fiesta. porque yo no puedo separar ni mezclar al tun tun. a mi me gustan los círculos perfectos aunque no sepa dibujarlos. porque lo que ahora mismo estoy aprendiendo, y por eso #cjhauser me cae tan bien, es que todo eso que buscamos, felicidad, amor, una casa, conlleva una lentitud que no vemos, un tiempo que no se rige por nuestras reglas sin sentido. que todo está en los detalles. o en tener de manera literal o metafórica la habitación útero de Georgia O`keeffe. Porque todas estuvimos ahi. te lo aseguro. y por ende acabamos aprendiendo que las grulla están llena de plumas que las protegen del frío y son su vehículo para largarse hasta la cálida Alejandría y que los robots son solo robots pero que jamás entenderán que relación hay entre una sandía siberiana, los folículos, una bola de pelusa y lo invisible.
August 22, 2022
I was so excited to read this book and was surprised by how little I enjoyed it! I found it extremely redundant: break-ups and metaphors for life through witty connections to pop culture. Moments of it spoke to me, but I was continuously surprised by how each essay read and exactly like the last..
August 5, 2022
this is everything I needed and more than I expected it would be.
—-
THE CRANE WIFE was an undeniable 5 star read for me.
It’s collection of memoir-in-essays where CJ is honest, funny, vulnerable, relatable and reflective of her life. I don’t think I have highlighted and bookmarked so many passages and quotes in all of my years of reading.
To summarize, I felt seen, heard and understood throughout her essays in how she examines her life and has her epiphanies within friendships, families, career, relationships and her view on herself.
“The Crane Wife” as CJ explains is a story from Japanese folklore. TLDR: it’s about a crane bird who tricks a man into thinking she is a woman so she can marry him. But in doing so, she commits to an exhausting process of shedding and erasing her true desires and identity just to keep this man.
Often times we feel embarrassed and hide our true wants, desires and feelings just so we don’t appear to be a burden to our partner or other loved ones in our lives. But in doing so, the one who loses the most is us.
In each essay, CJ impressively ties in a movie or event like a robotics convention to a greater theme and revelation she has had in her life. Every time I wondered, “what does learning about these characters in her favorite TV show have to do with CJ?” or her dad recounting an event of his teacher drawing a perfect circle, she masterly ties it into greater message that leaves me in awe of the sorcery and moved.
I enjoyed each one but some favorites were “Hepburn Qua Hepburn” , “The Lady with the lamp”, “The Second Mrs. de Winter” and “Uncoupling”.
“I didn’t want to risk defining what it was or wasn’t too specifically in case what I made of it wasn’t what someone, someday wanted or needed from me… That my body is for me, is mine, that my body does not have to please others, has been a hard thing to understand”
She embraces her flaws and insecurities that I feel many can relate to. It was such an enjoyable reading experience. I am grateful to have received a digital copy but I loved it so much I had to purchase a physical copy.
I also loved how she challenged the idea of tying specific threads of a story together for it to be narratively satisfying. “What were you told had to happen in a story for it to feel complete?”. I think about this a lot in how we judge stories and have since pushed myself to judge storylines as they are and not how well it creates a satisfying ending.
If you are looking for a therapeutic but fun way to reflect and unpack some of the thoughts and ideas that you consistently ponder, I couldn’t recommend this enough.
—-
THE CRANE WIFE was an undeniable 5 star read for me.
It’s collection of memoir-in-essays where CJ is honest, funny, vulnerable, relatable and reflective of her life. I don’t think I have highlighted and bookmarked so many passages and quotes in all of my years of reading.
To summarize, I felt seen, heard and understood throughout her essays in how she examines her life and has her epiphanies within friendships, families, career, relationships and her view on herself.
“The Crane Wife” as CJ explains is a story from Japanese folklore. TLDR: it’s about a crane bird who tricks a man into thinking she is a woman so she can marry him. But in doing so, she commits to an exhausting process of shedding and erasing her true desires and identity just to keep this man.
Often times we feel embarrassed and hide our true wants, desires and feelings just so we don’t appear to be a burden to our partner or other loved ones in our lives. But in doing so, the one who loses the most is us.
In each essay, CJ impressively ties in a movie or event like a robotics convention to a greater theme and revelation she has had in her life. Every time I wondered, “what does learning about these characters in her favorite TV show have to do with CJ?” or her dad recounting an event of his teacher drawing a perfect circle, she masterly ties it into greater message that leaves me in awe of the sorcery and moved.
I enjoyed each one but some favorites were “Hepburn Qua Hepburn” , “The Lady with the lamp”, “The Second Mrs. de Winter” and “Uncoupling”.
“I didn’t want to risk defining what it was or wasn’t too specifically in case what I made of it wasn’t what someone, someday wanted or needed from me… That my body is for me, is mine, that my body does not have to please others, has been a hard thing to understand”
She embraces her flaws and insecurities that I feel many can relate to. It was such an enjoyable reading experience. I am grateful to have received a digital copy but I loved it so much I had to purchase a physical copy.
I also loved how she challenged the idea of tying specific threads of a story together for it to be narratively satisfying. “What were you told had to happen in a story for it to feel complete?”. I think about this a lot in how we judge stories and have since pushed myself to judge storylines as they are and not how well it creates a satisfying ending.
If you are looking for a therapeutic but fun way to reflect and unpack some of the thoughts and ideas that you consistently ponder, I couldn’t recommend this enough.
September 4, 2025
En general he ido acomodándome a su tono cálido e ingenioso y me ha gustado, pero también tengo que reconocer que estoy algo decepcionado porque esperaba otra cosa distinta, en realidad es un conjunto de relatos autobiográficos que fusionan recuerdos y reflexiones de una forma muy fragmentada. El ritmo es muy irregular, muchos aspectos se repiten constantemente, y está demasiado enfocada en sí misma como narradora. Pero lo compensa con esa voz íntima y auténtica que aborda los temas, especialmente el amor, con sensibilidad e ironía.
May 5, 2024
This essay collection focuses on human relationships, many of them romantic, but also with grandparents, parents, sisters, best friends, COVID-isolation pods, and with the children of romantic partners from previous relationships. The title essay interweaves the experience of a broken engagement with a scientific expedition to study the dwindling population of whooping cranes in the Gulf Coast of Texas to devastating effect. Another experience, covering the DARPA Robotics Challenge trails, in which teams test out potential robotic first responders, speaks to the author's own desire to both save others and be saved by a string of problematic men. The author dated a lot of men and a few women in their twenties and processes them through the lens of media (the film The Philadelphia Story, the TV show The X-Files,the novels Don Quixote, Rebecca, We Have Always Lived in the Castle) and the perspective gained with time. I really loved this whole collection, but the piece that keeps rolling around in my mind is "The Fox Farm", about trying to recreate an archetype of a child's fantasy house (full of animals, friends, gardens, infinite rooms) in real life as an adult. I left this book wanting to know more- when did the author start using nonbinary pronouns? Have they resolved their feelings about their tits? Is that guest room in their big upstate New York house still available for visiting artists, and if so, how do I apply for the position of resident writer/new friend?
December 6, 2024
reminded me a bit of little weirds by jenny slate, very sweet!
June 12, 2023
I could not get through this book fast enough. It dragged and dragged for me. I felt like the author thought she was the only * quirky * woman in the world with a unique female experience combined with the fact that she was soooo painfully amused with herself the whole time.
March 31, 2024
Jamás había subrayado tanto un libro.
January 16, 2024
Once upon a time, I was struggling to explain my own decision to ask for a divorce: there was no infidelity, no slight or thievery, no abuse, no easily acceptable narrative. I couldn't even really describe it to myself, my inner voice was unsure and rambly. And then I came across C.J.Hauser's essay The Crane Wife in the Paris Review and so much fell into place - the feeling of unseenness that is nobody's fault really, just life and trauma and small incompatibilities that all add up to a devastating loneliness.
C.J. gave me the words to describe a universal feeling ... she is my sister (she does not know this) and I am OBSESSED with her.
When I found her collection of essays, an entire collection of them (!!!), I got whiplash flinging myself to the till to pay. Her writing is exquisite and every essay is a masterclass.
CAVEAT - I also spent a large part of this collection on the phone rereading essays I particularly loved to a man on a different continent who I think I may be falling for. I am not saying The Crane Wife is a magical tome that can explain your life to you, or bring a soulmate to your door, but I am not saying it isn't, either.
C.J. gave me the words to describe a universal feeling ... she is my sister (she does not know this) and I am OBSESSED with her.
When I found her collection of essays, an entire collection of them (!!!), I got whiplash flinging myself to the till to pay. Her writing is exquisite and every essay is a masterclass.
CAVEAT - I also spent a large part of this collection on the phone rereading essays I particularly loved to a man on a different continent who I think I may be falling for. I am not saying The Crane Wife is a magical tome that can explain your life to you, or bring a soulmate to your door, but I am not saying it isn't, either.
April 4, 2026
Some of this was so striking and some was so repetitive but a memoir told thru essays is kinda brill!!! We also LOVE another girl named CJ cmon
March 10, 2022
3.5 rounded down
Unlike many, this was my first experience of the author's writing (her essay link: The Crane Wife has attracted over a million reads), so I went in pretty blind.
I loved the overarching theme of love, be it familial or romantic, and there were a few standout essays for sure: my favourite was the one where the author took her grandmother's remains to be scattered at Martha's Vineyard which is also where John Belushi is buried. It's a little difficult to describe the essay - and comparing one's grandmothers life to that of an actor who met an untimely death from a drug overdose doesn't sound like it should work - but it was very well done. "Siberian Watermelon" was another good one, about Hauser's gardening attempts and how it brought her closer to her father during the pandemic. A few others didn't quite hit the mark for me (the one on Katharine Hepburn, for example) but that comes down to personal taste/preference.
Thank you Netgalley and Penguin for the advance copy, which was provided in exchange for an honest review.
Unlike many, this was my first experience of the author's writing (her essay link: The Crane Wife has attracted over a million reads), so I went in pretty blind.
I loved the overarching theme of love, be it familial or romantic, and there were a few standout essays for sure: my favourite was the one where the author took her grandmother's remains to be scattered at Martha's Vineyard which is also where John Belushi is buried. It's a little difficult to describe the essay - and comparing one's grandmothers life to that of an actor who met an untimely death from a drug overdose doesn't sound like it should work - but it was very well done. "Siberian Watermelon" was another good one, about Hauser's gardening attempts and how it brought her closer to her father during the pandemic. A few others didn't quite hit the mark for me (the one on Katharine Hepburn, for example) but that comes down to personal taste/preference.
Thank you Netgalley and Penguin for the advance copy, which was provided in exchange for an honest review.
March 31, 2025
jopelas...
venía predispuesta a que me gustara!!
era ambicioso en cuanto a desenredar tramas y creo que tiene unos momentos concretos potentes
pero me ha parecido que da vueltas sobre lo mismo demasiado tiempo, mirándolo del derecho y del revés pero sin llegar a conclusiones tan distinas...
además considero que se ha apoyado excesivamente en referenciar otras cosas...
y esto ya como cosa aparte pero la manera en la que se autopercive como única y diferente me ha hecho cringear un poco (aunque creo que ella misma lo sabe)
venía predispuesta a que me gustara!!
era ambicioso en cuanto a desenredar tramas y creo que tiene unos momentos concretos potentes
pero me ha parecido que da vueltas sobre lo mismo demasiado tiempo, mirándolo del derecho y del revés pero sin llegar a conclusiones tan distinas...
además considero que se ha apoyado excesivamente en referenciar otras cosas...
y esto ya como cosa aparte pero la manera en la que se autopercive como única y diferente me ha hecho cringear un poco (aunque creo que ella misma lo sabe)
July 13, 2024
Esto es lo que debió significar para mí «Todo lo que sé sobre el amor» de Dolly Alderton, ahí lo dejo.
Me gustan los libros que son una conversación entre amigas. CJ Hauser nos confía sus aprendizajes con la esperanza de que a nosotras nos sirvan justo a tiempo. Este es un libro que exuda identidad femenina, solo que sin pretensión alguna, y una exquisita oda a la familia —adoro cuando los autores comparten a su familia conmigo. Los abuelos y las abuelas en concreto me calientan el corazoncito—. Se pone en nuestras manos con un magnífico sentido del humor y aportando constantemente referencias culturales. Algunas muy de nicho, porque yo estadounidense no soy y ni idea de quién era Belushi, pero resultan siempre comprensibles gracias a su excelente desarrollo (y a quién no le gusta adquirir conocimientos). Al combinar las anécdotas populares con las suyas propias es como si quisiera decirnos que el sufrimiento, el luto, el amor; todo estaba inventado antes de que nosotras lo creyéramos una experiencia única, y se agradece.
Quizá no soy el público objetivo al que va dirigido (la amiga de Hauser debería tener en este caso treinta y largos, cuarenta y pocos) para empatizar en algunos capítulos, pero la experiencia universal que por suerte o por desgracia comprende la preocupación constante de la mujer desde la tierna infancia te acerca a todas las problemáticas del ensayo. En la sinopsis ponía que la novela es inclasificable, pero para mí es la vida misma.
(Me he agenciao una regla para subrayar en condiciones. Sale Mal. Menudo Cuadro.)
May 22, 2024
Original y auténtica C.J Hauser analizando e intentando mejorar su comportamiento en el amor en sus relaciones a lo largo de los años.
Directa, irónica y divertida, pero sin perder profundidad en todos los temas que toca.
Genial el capítulo relacionado con Shirley Jackson, ...y hasta el capítulo de agradecimientos tiene su aquel
*******************************************
📝 "Intentar, dudar, elegir, de eso se trata"💜
Directa, irónica y divertida, pero sin perder profundidad en todos los temas que toca.
Genial el capítulo relacionado con Shirley Jackson, ...y hasta el capítulo de agradecimientos tiene su aquel
*******************************************
📝 "Intentar, dudar, elegir, de eso se trata"💜
October 27, 2025
Alguno de esos relatos han hablado por mí...
September 14, 2024
“Debí de enviarle a mi padre docenas de fotos de esa sandía a lo largo del verano pandémico. Seguro que todas parecíam iguales, pero no lo eran. Siempre estaba pasando algo, un proceso natural demasiado lento para la lente narrativa, pero igualmente digno de atención y de celebración. (…)
Es invierno de nuevo mientras os escribo y quizá sea un buen momento para entregarse a narraciones que avancen menos deprisa de lo que nos gustaría. Ahora tengo más aprecio por lo lento y lo constante, por la omnipresente pequeña bondad, por ese amor que los elementos no derriban con facilidad, incluso por lo aburrido. Son estos relatos y estas maneras de ser lo que ahora me hace seguir adelante. Estas conversaciones con mi padre. Estas sandías siberianas. El registro de algo dulce, pequeño, casi invisible, que crece poco a poco hasta formar un círculo cada vez más perfecto, la posibilidad de un fruto que todos podríamos comer.”💔💔💔
Es invierno de nuevo mientras os escribo y quizá sea un buen momento para entregarse a narraciones que avancen menos deprisa de lo que nos gustaría. Ahora tengo más aprecio por lo lento y lo constante, por la omnipresente pequeña bondad, por ese amor que los elementos no derriban con facilidad, incluso por lo aburrido. Son estos relatos y estas maneras de ser lo que ahora me hace seguir adelante. Estas conversaciones con mi padre. Estas sandías siberianas. El registro de algo dulce, pequeño, casi invisible, que crece poco a poco hasta formar un círculo cada vez más perfecto, la posibilidad de un fruto que todos podríamos comer.”💔💔💔
December 16, 2022
4+ stars.
Not sure how I stumbled onto this book. Maybe it is because I love the shade of purple on the cover and once I started listening to the audio, read quite brilliantly by the author I found I was quite enchanted by how she wrote about different tipping points in her life.
This was such a great listen that several sections I rewound (?not quite how audio works on a smart phone but anyway) and listened to again to see how she developed a story to get her point across.
This is a memoir in essays. Yet, the author doesn't just recall events and then tell you why they were pivotal in her life but rather these are more stories, some rather long and meandering that give the reader a sense of how life experiences changed her understanding of who she was and why. There is a lot here about friendships, relationships and how often other people influence who we are and how often we believe that idea.
I particularly loved the idea of The Crane Wife, the folk tale and how clear an example of how so many women relate to others. If you like memoirs I would highly recommend this in audio. It took me a little while to understand that it was the author's voice I was hearing. She sounds younger than the stories she relates but I appreciate what it lent to the book as it went on.
P.S. I should admit that in general (except for Barbara Kingsolver) I shy away from author and celebrity readers but there are real gems and this audio was in that category for me.
Not sure how I stumbled onto this book. Maybe it is because I love the shade of purple on the cover and once I started listening to the audio, read quite brilliantly by the author I found I was quite enchanted by how she wrote about different tipping points in her life.
This was such a great listen that several sections I rewound (?not quite how audio works on a smart phone but anyway) and listened to again to see how she developed a story to get her point across.
This is a memoir in essays. Yet, the author doesn't just recall events and then tell you why they were pivotal in her life but rather these are more stories, some rather long and meandering that give the reader a sense of how life experiences changed her understanding of who she was and why. There is a lot here about friendships, relationships and how often other people influence who we are and how often we believe that idea.
I particularly loved the idea of The Crane Wife, the folk tale and how clear an example of how so many women relate to others. If you like memoirs I would highly recommend this in audio. It took me a little while to understand that it was the author's voice I was hearing. She sounds younger than the stories she relates but I appreciate what it lent to the book as it went on.
P.S. I should admit that in general (except for Barbara Kingsolver) I shy away from author and celebrity readers but there are real gems and this audio was in that category for me.
May 12, 2024
Los primeros cuentos me gustaron mucho, en forma y en fondo. Pasado el primer tercio, el libro se me hizo pesadísimo: demasiadas vueltas sobre el mismo asunto con un tono que me irritaba. Abandoné sobre la página 150.
Para escribir memorias hay que separarse de la historia, como dice Vivian Gornick, hay que encontrar un 'yo' distinto, un 'yo' que habla también de otros, distinguir la situación de la historia y ordenar las ideas en torno a esta última. En este caso, creo, la autora no lo consiguió.
Para escribir memorias hay que separarse de la historia, como dice Vivian Gornick, hay que encontrar un 'yo' distinto, un 'yo' que habla también de otros, distinguir la situación de la historia y ordenar las ideas en torno a esta última. En este caso, creo, la autora no lo consiguió.
April 16, 2022
cried like a baby reading this
October 9, 2022
Genre: Memoir/Essays
Format: Audio
5🌟 - I loved it!
Thank you @prhaudio for the complimentary audiobook and @doubledaybooks for the #gifted physical copy!
This was incredible! It had such relatable commentary on modern dating in a collection of nonfiction essays about the author’s family, relationships, and life.
The author was reflective, thoughtful, funny, and is undeniably a gifted writer! I absolutely was obsessed with her style of writing and thought it was so unique and brilliant!
Real and relatable, nonfiction millennial girlies this one is for you! Fans of @dollyalderton’s book Ghosts will love this one!
Format: Audio
5🌟 - I loved it!
Thank you @prhaudio for the complimentary audiobook and @doubledaybooks for the #gifted physical copy!
This was incredible! It had such relatable commentary on modern dating in a collection of nonfiction essays about the author’s family, relationships, and life.
The author was reflective, thoughtful, funny, and is undeniably a gifted writer! I absolutely was obsessed with her style of writing and thought it was so unique and brilliant!
Real and relatable, nonfiction millennial girlies this one is for you! Fans of @dollyalderton’s book Ghosts will love this one!
January 31, 2022
I AM DELIGHTED THIS BOOK EXISTS. CJ Hauser please write more. Favorite essays: Hepburn qua Hepburn, The Second Mrs. de Winter, Nights We Didn’t, Siberian Watermelon, and of course, The Crane Wife.
July 17, 2024
qué fuerte este libro.... lo he disfrutado muchísimo, que persona más lista
February 27, 2025
No puedo darle menos de 5 estrellas a un libro tan intimo. Con ganas de leer mas cosas de Hauser
August 23, 2025
No sabría definir este libro, solo sé que me ha encantado. ¿La nueva Nora Ephron?. Imposible no sentirte identificada en alguno de los pasajes. Inteligente y profundamente honesta.
February 19, 2025
La novia grulla es un libro, ensayo, novela de autoficción... que aborda las relaciones sentimentales de CJ Hauser, sobre el amor en general, y además puede utilizarse como un manual de escritura, porque la autora demuestra su maestría en cada relato-capítulo, hilando conceptos, recuerdos, películas...y nos entrega lecciones de escritura creativa envueltas en las peripecias de una mujer del siglo XXI en el amor.
August 22, 2025
El querer como acto que da sentido a nuestra vida.
Este libro me ha ido ganando de menos a más, pasando de una sensación durante la primera mitad de que estaba ante una colección de relatos inconexos que me dificultaban vincularme a las vivencias de la autora, a ir encontrándole un sentido a esa inconexión y entrando dentro del universo de la autora. También es cierto que no acompañaba mi desengaño inicial, al sentir que lo que estaba leyendo no se correspondía a las sinopsis que había leído para elegirlo.
Uno empieza creyendo que a lo largo de sus páginas nos encontraremos con anécdotas sobre amor romántico, pero poco a poco va descubriendo que en realidad estamos ante libro sobre los afectos. Afectos de muchos tipos, colores, intensidades y clases. Porque nuestra propia existencia está condicionada por la calidad de nuestros afectos, y por eso no es difícil encontrarse reflejado o reflejada en alguno de los relatos que comparte.
Esa es la mayor virtud de este libro, que al hablar sobre la cotidianidad del querer te lleva inevitablemente a pensar sobre nuestro propio querer.
Este libro me ha ido ganando de menos a más, pasando de una sensación durante la primera mitad de que estaba ante una colección de relatos inconexos que me dificultaban vincularme a las vivencias de la autora, a ir encontrándole un sentido a esa inconexión y entrando dentro del universo de la autora. También es cierto que no acompañaba mi desengaño inicial, al sentir que lo que estaba leyendo no se correspondía a las sinopsis que había leído para elegirlo.
Uno empieza creyendo que a lo largo de sus páginas nos encontraremos con anécdotas sobre amor romántico, pero poco a poco va descubriendo que en realidad estamos ante libro sobre los afectos. Afectos de muchos tipos, colores, intensidades y clases. Porque nuestra propia existencia está condicionada por la calidad de nuestros afectos, y por eso no es difícil encontrarse reflejado o reflejada en alguno de los relatos que comparte.
Esa es la mayor virtud de este libro, que al hablar sobre la cotidianidad del querer te lleva inevitablemente a pensar sobre nuestro propio querer.
March 20, 2026
que bonita forma de contarle al mundo tus reflexiones y experiencias sobre un tema que nos atraviesa a todos. le pondria un 10 sobre 5.
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