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Leaving Isn't the Hardest Thing
- Narrated by: Lauren Hough, Cate Blanchett
- Length: 9 hrs and 9 mins
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Leaving Isn't the Hardest Thing
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Summary
Searing and extremely personal essays from the heart of working-class America, shot through with the darkest elements the country can manifest - cults, homelessness and hunger - while discovering light and humour in unexpected corners.
As an adult, Lauren Hough has had many identities: an airman in the US Air Force, a cable guy, a bouncer at a gay club. As a child, however, she had none. Growing up as a member of the infamous cult The Children of God, Hough had her own self robbed from her. The cult took her all over the globe - to Germany, Japan, Texas, Chile - but it wasn't until she finally left for good that Lauren understood she could have a life beyond 'The Family'.
Along the way, she's loaded up her car and started over, trading one life for the next. She's taken pilgrimages to the sights of her youth, been kept in solitary confinement, dated a lot of women, dabbled in drugs and eventually found herself as what she always wanted to be: a writer. Here, as she sweeps through the underbelly of America - relying on friends, family and strangers alike - she begins to excavate a new identity even as her past continues to trail her and colour her world, relationships and perceptions of self.
At once razor-sharp, profoundly brave and often very, very funny, the essays in Leaving Isn't the Hardest Thing interrogate our notions of ecstasy, queerness and what it means to live freely. Each piece is a reckoning: of survival, identity and how to reclaim one's past when carving out a future.
Critic reviews
"Hough's writing will break your heart." (Roxane Gay, author of Difficult Women)
"This moving account of resilience and hard-earned agency brims with a fresh originality." (Publishers Weekly)
What listeners say about Leaving Isn't the Hardest Thing
Average customer ratingsReviews - Please select the tabs below to change the source of reviews.
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Overall5 out of 5 stars
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- Sam
- 17-02-23
Thanks Lauren
I learned stuff from your book that I’ve wondered about for years. Thanks for putting your thoughts down for the rest of us.
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Overall5 out of 5 stars
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Story5 out of 5 stars
- R. Talbot
- 26-05-21
Can't stop until it's finished
Great narration from both Lauren Hough and Cate Blanchett. I feel that if you follow Lauren on Twitter, and you should, you will already know how she views the world. This book is a deep dive into her life, her viewpoint and the stories she wants to share with us, incredible writing.
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Overall5 out of 5 stars
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- Elena
- 12-12-23
What a book
The honesty is brutal and beautiful. Made me cry and laugh. The book is like an old wine, hidden wisdom, lived life and the courage to be, just fucking be.
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Overall5 out of 5 stars
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- Monica Pollard
- 08-01-24
Amazing
This was a wonderful book, taken from a person who’d actually lived what had been read
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Overall5 out of 5 stars
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- MBM
- 02-05-21
Beautiful and amazing
I loved every minute of this. What an amazing writer. It was like being punched in the heart.
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Overall5 out of 5 stars
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- Amazon Customer
- 28-04-24
Simply stunning.
Lauren speaks from the heart. This book is a memoir, a philosophical treaty and a story about cults and the trauma of growing up in one. I’m simply stunned at how strong a person she is and just how good a writer they are.
Highly recommended.
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