Review of "If You Feel Too Much:Thoughts on Things Found and Lost and Hoped For"

So I finished this book a few days ago but I had a procedure done and needed a few days recovery. This is a really hard book to review. It's written by Jamie Tworkowski who is the founder of To Write Love On Her Arms (TWLOHA), a nonprofit organization I have been following and supporting for years. If you are not familiar with TWLOHA, you should be. Go to the TWLOHA website, learn, and get involved.  Their mission: "TWLOHA is a nonprofit movement dedicated to presenting hope and finding help for people struggling with depression, addiction, self-injury, and suicide. TWLOHA exists to encourage, inform, inspire, and invest directly into treatment and recovery."  Again, check out their website: http://twloha.com/.

Back to the book at hand. I pre-ordered it and anxiously awaited it, then it say on my shelves for a while. I was in school and the mind set was just not there yet. Then school ended and I started my onslaught on reading. As soon as I started reading this I knew I would need my journal. Everything and everyone involved in TWLOHA is amazingly profound and life-changing, even in the smallest ways. Jamie is too. This book is a memoir of sorts in which Jamie shares his experiences and life with the reader. He shares short stories and letters, such as a beautiful letter to his mother. He writes in the lowercase i which I find very interesting. His writing is very personal and intimate; you feel as if you know him and you can relate. Goddess knows I can relate. 

I must say that I underlined and dog-eared many pages in this book. There were a few stories that brought tears to my eyes. One caused me to write a journal entry, which I posted on here 2 posts back. And it reminded me that I wanted to look at my old Livejournal and start copying the posts down, to publish later, perhaps. 

I encouraged one of my best friends, who is a psychotherapist, to have a few copies in her office, as it could help some of her patients. She was excited that I was reading it and said its on her to be read list. I encourage EVERYONE to get this book, pass it on to your friends and family, even strangers. The theme is simple: love yourself, love others, remember you are NOT alone, and never give up. 

You can find Jamie on Twitter. He goes on tour a lot and the best place to find that information out is the TWLOHA website: http://twloha.com/events/. I'd love to see him speak one of these days. 

Also, there is a movie based on the story of TWLOHA. It's TWLOHA Movie. It can be found on Amazon here and wherever else you can buy DVDS/etc. 

"If You Feel Too Much" can be found:

On the TWLOHA STORE

Amazon

Barnes and Noble

Indigo

I heavily encourage everyone to read this book. Trust me, you can relate.