Slow Love: How I Lost My Job, Put on My Pajamas, and Found Happiness by Dominique Browning
Published by Plume
Release Date: August 30th 2011
Rating: 2/5
Source: The publisher via NetGalley, thank you!
Summary:

In late 2007, Dominique Browning, the editor-in-chief of Conde Nast’s House & Garden, was informed that the magazine had folded-and she was out of a job. Suddenly divested of the income and sense of purpose that had driven her for most of her adult life, Browning panicked. But freed of the incessant pressure to multi-task and perform, she unexpectedly discovered a more meaningful way to live.

Browning’s witty and thoughtful memoir has already touched a chord with reviewers and readers alike. While untold millions are feeling the stress of modern life, Slow Love eloquently reminds us to appreciate what we have-a timely message that we all need to hear.

Dominique Browning, successful magazine editor and all around busy body suddenly loses control when her life and job come crashing down around her. Amidst the financial crisis in the US her job and magazine were subsequently cut off. With no where to go and no new career moves in her sites Dominque does the only thing possible, sleep and slow down. Spending days lounging in her pajamas and weeks without the hustle bustle of the world she once knew gives her a new purpose and changes the way she looks at what’s in front of her.

This was absolutely not the book for me. I’m not sure what I expected going into it, but the promise of a lovely cover and a woman who’s life suddenly takes a complete turn initially sounded appealing. It’s not so much that I expected to be amused by a comedic diatribe of her new life circumstance, but I wanted to learn more about her experiences that changed her opinions and what those opinions now were. What I should have realized was that much as I detested a similar memoir, Eat Pray Love, I would not connect with this either.

Most of the first half of the book is spent with her languishing over the loss of her job and reminiscing in her memories of her ex-husband. I kept reading hoping that eventually I’d connect or there would be some sort of revelation, but after more than 80 pages in I decided that just wasn’t going to happen. It continued from that slow pace forward along a winding path of memories and existence. I’m positive a lot of my aversion comes from being the very type of person she moves away from being in the book, I’m constantly on the go trying to soak in every experience possible and truly savor it because life is just too short. Obviously this was a poor choice on my part, but it was also the actual slow pace of the writing that deterred me from loving this book as well.

Readers of the memoir Eat Pray Love and similar stories will likely be huge fans of Slow Love by Dominique Browning. Unfortunately I wasn’t a fan of either. Dominique’s story relishes in her days of pajama wearing stillness to the extent that the book becomes slow as well. This would certainly be a book I’d recommend reading slowly, over the course of a few weeks allowing for time to appreciate the whole of her experience. As someone who’s constantly on the go with two toddlers in the home, it’s a story I couldn’t relate to at this point in my life, but may be able to a later point in my life. Dominique Browning brings a life of pajamas and one that is relaxed not only in her life but in her writing.

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