From Publishers Weekly
Starred Review. Browning's 13-year-job as editor-in-chief of
House & Garden fulfillingly defined her days and her identity; when the magazine folded two years ago, she was shaken to the core of her being. Having maintained her Westchester house, family of two grown sons, extensive garden, and frequent dining out, her life and general sense of self was radically shaken over the next year, and in this enchanting, funny, deeply gracious memoir, Browning, many years divorced, recounts how she found enlightenment at the other end. Writing was one way to absorb the panic; she went on a muffin-baking binge and gained 15 pounds; lost track of days, remaining comfortingly in her pjs and yearning perilously to reconnect to a former lover she calls Stroller, who was deemed wrong for her by everyone she knew. A few small decisions had enormous impact, such as when insomnia compelled her to tackle Bach's Goldberg Variations on the piano, and poignantly she refocused on her artistic nature. There is such feeling and care on each page of Browning's well-honed memoir—her rediscovery of nature, her avowal to let love find her rather than seek it, tapping satisfying work at her own keyboard—that the reader is swept along in a pleasant mood of transcendence.
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Review
“If you read one book, make it
Slow Love … advice we could all use, regardless of whether we’re gainfully employed!” (
Shape Magazine )
“In burnished, exquisite prose, Browning describes her feelings of being set adrift until she gradually transforms her helter-skelter days into a deliberate, contemplative way of life. … There’s a lovely ‘thinking out loud’ quality to
Slow Love that makes the reader privy to Browning’s soul.” (
Judy Bolton-Fasman - The Boston Globe )
“Starred Review. There is such feeling and care on each page of Browning's well-honed memoir—her rediscovery of nature, her avowal to let love find her rather than seek it, tapping satisfying work at her own keyboard—that the reader is swept along in a pleasant mood of transcendence.” (
Publishers Weekly )
“Not only an elegant and meditative writer but a pungently witty one ... Triumphantly, [Browning] makes the case for slow love achieved, a process she describes as the flip side of nostalgia: the state of 'knowing what you’ve got before it’s gone.'” (
Miranda Seymour - The New York Times Book Review )
“There cannot be a person on earth who does not sometimes wonder what the purpose of their life is. Dominique Browning was lucky enough to get fired, so she had time to find out who she was or might be. And we are lucky that she was able to write (often with great humor) about her loss, her loves, her pajamas and ultimately, her return to life.” (
Maira Kalman, author and illustrator of The Principles of Uncertainty )
