BlogHer Book Club Review: Slow Love by Dominique Browning

When I heard that the next selection for Blog Her Book Club was Dominique Browning’s Slow Love, I was excited. The tagline, “How I Lost My Job, Put on My Pajamas, and Found Happiness”, had me prepared for a book about slowing down to appreciate the little blessings in life, and indeed, there is some of that—joy found in baking muffins and planting mint wherever the author wants. There were many such moments in Slow Love that I found sweet and inspiring.

However, there were also a number of moments in which the author’s prose just rubbed me the wrong way. I found myself, at times, wanting to reach through the pages and shake the author, reminding her of her blessings—she had to sell her home, but she had a smaller second home that she had just renovated. She’d managed her money well enough while she was working to be able to spend several months lounging in her Brooks Brothers pajamas, baking muffins, gardening, and swimming in the ocean...and still, there seemed to be so much to complain about for Browning. At other times, Browning’s style left me feeling patronized—referring to warehouse stores such as Costco, Browning says, “Those places are temples to the marketing gods, who have tricked an entire population of otherwise rational people into thinking they are saving money when they buy in bulk.” It just simply doesn’t feel good to have an author make digs at things you do and enjoy.

See what more readers in BlogHer Book Club have to say about the newest selection from Penguin Books at the Slow Love page on BlogHer.com

Disclosure Statement: This was a paid review for BlogHer Book Club and Penguin books. Still, being paid to write the review has no bearing on whether or not the book receives a favorable review by me. Just so ya know!