A REESE’S BOOK CLUB PICK AND INSTANT NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER
“Often hilarious and ultimately very touching.” —People
“Have you ever read a book that made you want to hug the author?” —Reese Witherspoon
“This
unrestrained memoir is a transporting experience and one of the most
startlingly hopeful books I have ever read.” —Lisa Taddeo, New York Times bestselling author of Three Women
The
refreshingly original debut memoir of a guarded, over-achieving,
self-lacerating young lawyer who reluctantly agrees to get
psychologically and emotionally naked in a room of six complete
strangers—her psychotherapy group—and in turn finds human connection,
and herself.
Christie Tate had just been named the top
student in her law school class and finally had her eating disorder
under control. Why then was she driving through Chicago fantasizing
about her own death? Why was she envisioning putting an end to the
isolation and sadness that still plagued her despite her achievements?
Enter
Dr. Rosen, a therapist who calmly assures her that if she joins one of
his psychotherapy groups, he can transform her life. All she has to do
is show up and be honest. About everything—her eating habits, childhood,
sexual history, etc. Christie is skeptical, insisting that that she is
defective, beyond cure. But Dr. Rosen issues a nine-word prescription
that will change everything: “You don’t need a cure. You need a
witness.”
So begins her entry into the strange, terrifying, and
ultimately life-changing world of group therapy. Christie is initially
put off by Dr. Rosen’s outlandish directives, but as her defenses break
down and she comes to trust Dr. Rosen and to depend on the sessions and
the prescribed nightly phone calls with various group members, she
begins to understand what it means to connect.
Group is a
deliciously addictive read, and with Christie as our guide—skeptical of
her own capacity for connection and intimacy, but hopeful in spite of
herself—we are given a front row seat to the daring, exhilarating,
painful, and hilarious journey that is group therapy—an under-explored
process that breaks you down, and then reassembles you so that all the
pieces finally fit.
