Consequently, it often reads like a romance novel, with lines like, “When he pressed his perfect lips against mine, I swallowed starlight.” Tate’s sarcastic style can be entertaining-when Rosen told her not to use any three-syllable words to describe her feelings, she thought, “My top choice: adios”-but the narrative would have been stronger if the author more deeply explored the complexities of group therapy, body shame, loneliness, and more. Tate documents her alternately loving and confrontational encounters with fellow group members, but most of the book focuses on her many attempts to find the perfect man. This chatty memoir, punctuated with beautifully rendered sections, chronicles the years she spent in Chicago in Rosen’s groups. Rosen, a middle-aged man “slightly reminiscent of Einstein,” who encouraged her to be open about every aspect of her life. At the suggestion of a friend, Tate signed up for group therapy with Dr. Her long struggle with bulimia-by fourth grade she had “been marinating in body hatred for a few years”-and the trauma from seeing a childhood friend’s father drown during a holiday in Hawaii had sapped her confidence. Yet she never fit in as an “oddball” who “voted Democratic, liked poetry, and settled north of the Mason-Dixon line” for a law career in Chicago. People who knew Tate probably didn’t see her as the sort who hoped that “someone would shoot me in the head.” Growing up in Texas, she excelled in school at 26, she was first in her law school class. A young lawyer who wants to die enters group therapy to save her life.

Book group by christie tate