PostSecret: Extraordinary Confessions from Ordinary Lives Summary and Reviews

PostSecret: Extraordinary Confessions from Ordinary Lives
by Frank Warren

PostSecret: Extraordinary Confessions from Ordinary Lives
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Book Summary Information

Author: Frank Warren
Edition: Hardcover
Audio: English (Unknown); English (Original Language); English (Published)
Published: 2005-11-29
ISBN: 0060899190
Number of pages: 288
Publisher: William Morrow
Product features:
  • ISBN13: 9780060899196
  • Condition: New
  • Notes: BRAND NEW FROM PUBLISHER! 100% Satisfaction Guarantee. Tracking provided on most orders. Buy with Confidence! Millions of books sold!

Book Reviews of PostSecret: Extraordinary Confessions from Ordinary Lives

Book Review: "I Steal Old Library Cards Obsessively."
Summary: 5 Stars

"Postsecret" is a book of collected postcards from a website of the same name that began when a man named Frank Warren decided to combine art and the freedom of anonymous therapy. The concept is simple: you send in a postcard with a secret that you have told nobody. It can be on any subject, though most center on love, hate, feelings of personal inadequacy, and revenge. The cards are unedited and as a collection are actually very poignant.

Many of the cards are genuinely sad: "I haven't spoken to my dad in 10 years...and it kills me every day." Some are rather frightening: "I stole valium from my epileptic dog." Some funny: "I give decaf to customers who are rude to me," which was written on an item from Starbucks. Some are so quirky that they reek of both humor and dark emotional hang-ups: "I take extreme measures to poop in solitude," and "When I'm mad at my husband I put boogers in his soup." Finally, there are comments that can't be evaluated in any possible context or frame of reference without being told by the writer; since that context is impossible to know, these are my favorites, being genuinely funny and mystifying, for example: "I stole your duck and took him to San Francisco."

The book is genuinely touching in an odd and unexpected way. It is cathartic in that it reinforces that perhaps others have deeper problems that you do as the reader. Some of the postcard writers wrote Frank to tell of changes the Postsecret project made in their lives. In these cases, I am betting that years of therapy would have been way less effective while being way more expensive.

My favorite of the personal stories was from a woman in Canada: "Dear Frank, I have made six postcards all with secrets that I was afraid to tell the one person I tell everything to, my boyfriend. This morning I planned to mail them, but instead I left them on the pillow next to his head while he was sleeping. Ten minutes ago he arrived at my office and asked me to marry him. I said yes."

This is a great book that serves to remind readers that everyone has problems, everyone has secrets, and everyone has unhealed wounds. Though many of these postcards are individually depressing, the amalgamation is a true wonder to behold, and will make readers feel better about themselves. Part of the proceeds for this book goes to the National Hopeline Network, which helps prevent suicide. This is a great book, and I recommend it highly.

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