2 AM: A Guide To Restless Nights And Restless Hearts

by Thought Catalog (Editor)

It's the worst part of anyone's day...or rather, their night. It's that terrible time when you're tossing and turning in bed, unable to sleep and unable to turn off your mind. You're probably experiencing any myriad of feelings and just wish someone else was awake, was there, and was able to understand you. 2 AM dives into the world of the unspoken, difficult, and often gut-wrenching feelings we all experience in the middle of the night. There might not always be someone else on the other side of the bed, but that doesn't mean you're alone.

Genres: Self Help, Nonfiction

67 pages, Kindle Edition

Published March 20, 2016

About the author

Thought Catalog is a website founded in 2010 by American entrepreneur and media strategist Chris Lavergne. Owned by The Thought & Expression Company, the site attracts 25 million monthly unique visitors. -Wikipedia

Reviews

[Vicki · Rating 3 out of 5]

The writing in this is really pretty and reads like poetry but it’s sort of a cheesy mix of diary entries from authors writing about love and heartbreak so it’s not exactly a must read or the kind of book I go for

[Fairuz Maliha · Rating 3 out of 5]

Not a total good read, as it only talks about heart breaks. The book can be read if you are going through a bad breakup recovery session.

[Dee-Ann Butler · Rating 1 out of 5]

I started reading this book on a night where I was having extreme difficulty sleeping. This book is not GUIDE to restless nights. It is diary entries for people that talk about nothing but the pain and hurt of heartbreak. The writing was not interesting and it left nothing to the imagination but I started the book so I had to finish it. I think mostly because I was really hoping that something positive and motivational would come from my wasted time of reading this book. I don’t recommend this book for anyone that likes to read books with true plots, scenery, and emotions other than just tears in a pillow.

[❄Elsa Frost❄ · Rating 1 out of 5]

So, ironically read this at 2 AM. This book just made me feel worse.

Also, does everyone just think about romance in the middle of the night??? Is there nothing more to them than that?? We get flashbacks and either that or reading or concerns about upcoming weeks usually pop up at this hour. Also depression episodes. I’m just so… shocked a book this basic and shallow was even published. I thought there’d actually be more than just a couple redeeming essays in this one (though these few were not enough to save the entire book).

[moxieBK · Rating 3 out of 5]

2 AM: A Guide To Restless Nights And Restless Hearts — Thought Catalog (18 titles chapters; various authors) March 24, 2021

I’m not sure what this book is supposed to be about…various authors reflecting on what the stay-at-home pandemic has done to them, maybe?

These stories feel like where I have been before and I’m not sure that is a good thing. It’s like 18 snippets of people’s lives that at times makes me feel sick to my stomach—a gut-punch of sorts—and yet I couldn’t stop reading them

I thought this was going to a non-fiction piece about how to stop this pure madness, not a deep-dive into others that have this craziness, even though knowing other people have it makes me feel slightly better knowing I am not the only screw Soul on this Earth.

These sketches remind me of lyrical prose. They only rhyme in a way that makes them feel like poetry, beautiful and painful. I tended to like the stories that were short. The longer ones felt like rambling words on paper; I tended to speed read through them unless a word or two caught my eye, but none of them did like the shorter snatches of life.

Granted, not all of these stories were related to me, but being emphatic did drain me somewhat. Glimpse #10 was the best chapter of all comprised of 26 think-abouts.

So, I teeter back and forth: was this a good read for me right now? Yes, for the most part, it was.

Three stars.

[Christine Malang · Rating 3 out of 5]

Needed this, when I needed this.

“Distraction, it’s what I do all day long. Finding ways to avoid the problems. Avoiding conversations. Avoiding the mirror when I pass by. I like the way I look, most days. I feel good in my own skin, despite the scars from the past.”

“I do what I want, when I want, and I only worry about the consequences when and if I need to. I love being responsible for me and only me. I don’t think about what someone else is doing and why they are not involved in my life and that’s okay”

“You’re not a failure at love because your heart is broken, you’re a failure at love if you let the fear of heartbreak keep you from loving at all.”

“Without heartbreak, there is no struggle, and struggle makes us fight for our lives.”

“Being broken doesn’t mean unfixable. It means that you have to start somewhere and try to glue back the pieces. It’s great if you have someone to help you but you know how the broken pieces fit together better than anyone.”

[Carly · Rating 1 out of 5]

“Something hurts, so I get up and eat. I’m not hungry. But I’m hurting and maybe I just want this hurt to be something I can easily fix.”

The only reason I decided to read this book was because I was pushing myself to read things out of my comfort zone.

And I choose this one because, apart from being short, I believed that it would be easier to read if I could relate to the subject discussed, but alas the only story that turned out to be what I thought this book would be about was the first one and the ninth, the rest were just love notes that looked to be straight out of Tumblr.

[Ashley Goodwin · Rating 4 out of 5]

What a ride

I enjoyed reading all these different short stories. Some of them i could feel like I could relate to while others, I could really feel their pain and sadness. Such a great mix of stories!

[rachel · Rating 3 out of 5]

I think mostly a positive experience but I swear the second half was ripped straight from tumblr

and minus another point bc the misspelling of breath vs. breathe is a major pet peeve lol

[Sumi · Rating 2 out of 5]

Quick read. It’s a collection of short stories about heartbreak and love. Writing wasn’t good in some of the essays, and the stories looks the same.

[Junamie Sambrana]

Good

[Shania · Rating 5 out of 5]

Loved it, great short reads.

[Jacqueline Yap · Rating 2 out of 5]

it's so melancholy.

[Taylor Waugh · Rating 5 out of 5]

I really enjoyed reading this collection of short stories from several different authors.