I think that I am a better person now for having read, and related to, Wright and her latest novel.  Wait- I said that wrong. I didn’t just relate, I melded into it, it was as though she was telling me her stories, but they were my stories.  I kept asking the question “how does she know this?”  

Written with authentic awe and wonder, Holding On Loosely contains the stories of personal growth, gratitude, pain, and life in all of its magnificent glory.  Sounds hokey but it isn’t.  It is real and trust me you will feel what she feels because you too have stories just like these.  I wanted to cry with her in the story of the little boy, Benson on the plane, for there is little greater sadness than a young child who has lost their Daddy.  I wanted to shout yippee and claim Wright a hero when on the train she realized that a family from the Middle East held so much in common with her that she could not possibly have any prejudices against them.  Wright described motherhood in perfect wording that combined the joy, fear, and anxiety a mother experiences simply because she is now a mother.  

I kept thinking, how did this brilliant novel come out of a small Texas town the same year Texas is becoming known for the actions of so many less than brilliant people, Wright’s level of insight and clarity is amazing.  She opened her hand to opportunities, she chose to live completely, or as Brene Brown would say “wholeheartedly”.  I do know that Wright has written one of the most beautiful books I have ever read. I do know that she is capable of great depth, vulnerability, and sensitivity.  I also know that she has a true gift for storytelling.  

As I read, I marked up her book.  I underlined, I shared quotes from it with friends and I decided that I too could combat gravity and opt to move, to live life fully, now, grabbing hold of every bit of the good and grand while letting myself even feel sad because if she can do it from a little town in Texas than by God I can do it from a big town in Texas.  So the best recommendation I can give is that the book changed me, touched me and I doubt I will forget it.  To use her words to make my point: ”God’s steadfastness is in the ink in every line of our stories.”