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Lessons in Letting Go: Confessions of a Hoarder
It took a year to drag myself out of the mess. A year in which I lost my dearest friend and then promptly lost my way. A year in which I ran away overseas, came back and then ran away again. A year in which I learnt to let go, learnt to forgive and learnt to grow up. It was a big year. It was a lot of work. And I head-butted two people. Accidently.
240 pages, Paperback
First published September 1, 2010
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 72 reviews
September 11, 2016
On my constant rant of the Goodreads star rating system I have now decided that we need not only half stars but actually six stars - number 5 should be "loved it" and then 6 would be the "it was amazing" star - there's a big difference between loving a book and saying it was amazing!! Corinne Grant's Lessons in Letting Go would then be on a 5 star rating because I did thoroughly enjoy it, maybe loved it, but saying it was amazing is a bit much, lol.
Anyway to be honest I have never really found Corinne that funny but as an author she can be hilarious. Chapter 3 is a good example of this - I laughed myself silly reading this chapter and there were other moments I also laughed out loud. There are more sobering issues which certainly are not funny but this book about Corinne discovering reasons behind her hoarding is a very very good read.
Maybe it touched me more because I can totally relate to her - I am a hoarder of sorts. Not in any way a newspapers-to-the-ceiling type, but I find things hard to chuck away - I am overly sentimental about things (maybe a lot of my problem has to do with the fact my Mum passed away when I was just 14), my sentimentality has stretched to silly views e.g feeling I have to sometimes care for other people's throwaways because "Hey this meant something precious to someone and someone else has just chucked it away" type thoughts! And I put feelings on inanimate objects - I volunteer at a charity shop which is probably NOT a good place to work if you have hoarding tendencies, lol. and I went through a phase - I'm really baring my soul here people - of bringing home stuffed toys that were destined for the bin - elephants with one ear, teddy bears with an arm missing, really ugly home knitted things that I felt sorry for, etc etc. And it would be impossible for me to have enough books - although that is something that a lot of people on GR probably suffer from so we will pretend that doesn't count!!!! .....anyway over the past few years I have been slowly ridding myself of these things which weigh you down. A friend and I have a thing where every year we set a number and cull that amount - anything OUT of the house gets counted, anything IN gets subtracted and this year we are aiming for 1500 things (I'm currently on 1167 thanks mainly to finding a lot of my video cassettes - yes VIDEO's which I still have, lol - had gone mouldy :( and a couple of big book culls . Last year we did 2015 items for 2015, the year before we started more conservatively with 1000. The interesting thing is it DOES work, you start seeing things way more clearly, and whether you really want/need it, whether you are really using it, etc. Recently I opened a shoe box to find the following things - a peg, a cute little bath toy shaped like a pelican, some darts for the dartboard, bookmarks (of course) rubber bands, something which I don't know what that looked like I could use it as a thimble (except I don't sew!), a small stuffed toy, a coin purse with a cats face, a plastic golf ball, a little box that had those clips you hold xmas cards with, a couple of Matchbox cars, well, you get the drift! WHY?????? Because they were either "come in handy" or "cute" I suppose.
Anyway I have digressed from the book with my own tales of woe. It's a great book, funny and poignant and for anyone not familiar with her best friend Adam Richard, research him first before reading the book to get the full benefit in your mind when he appears in the pages because he's fabulous :)
Anyway to be honest I have never really found Corinne that funny but as an author she can be hilarious. Chapter 3 is a good example of this - I laughed myself silly reading this chapter and there were other moments I also laughed out loud. There are more sobering issues which certainly are not funny but this book about Corinne discovering reasons behind her hoarding is a very very good read.
Maybe it touched me more because I can totally relate to her - I am a hoarder of sorts. Not in any way a newspapers-to-the-ceiling type, but I find things hard to chuck away - I am overly sentimental about things (maybe a lot of my problem has to do with the fact my Mum passed away when I was just 14), my sentimentality has stretched to silly views e.g feeling I have to sometimes care for other people's throwaways because "Hey this meant something precious to someone and someone else has just chucked it away" type thoughts! And I put feelings on inanimate objects - I volunteer at a charity shop which is probably NOT a good place to work if you have hoarding tendencies, lol. and I went through a phase - I'm really baring my soul here people - of bringing home stuffed toys that were destined for the bin - elephants with one ear, teddy bears with an arm missing, really ugly home knitted things that I felt sorry for, etc etc. And it would be impossible for me to have enough books - although that is something that a lot of people on GR probably suffer from so we will pretend that doesn't count!!!! .....anyway over the past few years I have been slowly ridding myself of these things which weigh you down. A friend and I have a thing where every year we set a number and cull that amount - anything OUT of the house gets counted, anything IN gets subtracted and this year we are aiming for 1500 things (I'm currently on 1167 thanks mainly to finding a lot of my video cassettes - yes VIDEO's which I still have, lol - had gone mouldy :( and a couple of big book culls . Last year we did 2015 items for 2015, the year before we started more conservatively with 1000. The interesting thing is it DOES work, you start seeing things way more clearly, and whether you really want/need it, whether you are really using it, etc. Recently I opened a shoe box to find the following things - a peg, a cute little bath toy shaped like a pelican, some darts for the dartboard, bookmarks (of course) rubber bands, something which I don't know what that looked like I could use it as a thimble (except I don't sew!), a small stuffed toy, a coin purse with a cats face, a plastic golf ball, a little box that had those clips you hold xmas cards with, a couple of Matchbox cars, well, you get the drift! WHY?????? Because they were either "come in handy" or "cute" I suppose.
Anyway I have digressed from the book with my own tales of woe. It's a great book, funny and poignant and for anyone not familiar with her best friend Adam Richard, research him first before reading the book to get the full benefit in your mind when he appears in the pages because he's fabulous :)
March 20, 2011
Corinne Grant has written a very honest, warm & funny account of her hoarding addiction and her road to recovery. The book was a delight - engaging and fascinating and she gives a hoarding scale and 22 tips for letting go. Who wants my copy?
March 27, 2016
Australian comedian Corinne Grant takes us on an emotional journey in Lessons in Letting Go. With a whimsical and honest humour, she explores the causes and progression of her hoarding addiction which threatened to bury her in 'stuff' and take over her life. A couple of crises, hard lessons in letting go and a growing understanding self-knowledge became the stimulus for radical change and the road to recovery.
Corinne does give a break-down of 10 stages of hoarding & 22 lessons in letting go but this book predominantly a memoir rather than a 'how-to'. Never the less, lessons and inspiration can be drawn along the way. The narrative is warm, funny and, in places, profound.
While I didn't particularly relate to Corrinne's emotional reasons for hoarding, I did find some correspondences with the hoarding of paperwork (my biggest Achilles heel) & just reading about her hard-core effects inspired me to get on with some significant decluttering myself.
A good read - especially for anyone is at the tipping point, when the clutter begins to take over - or beyond.
Corinne does give a break-down of 10 stages of hoarding & 22 lessons in letting go but this book predominantly a memoir rather than a 'how-to'. Never the less, lessons and inspiration can be drawn along the way. The narrative is warm, funny and, in places, profound.
While I didn't particularly relate to Corrinne's emotional reasons for hoarding, I did find some correspondences with the hoarding of paperwork (my biggest Achilles heel) & just reading about her hard-core effects inspired me to get on with some significant decluttering myself.
A good read - especially for anyone is at the tipping point, when the clutter begins to take over - or beyond.
January 26, 2011
Oh Corinne, you give me hope.
March 17, 2016
In this memoir, Australian comedian Corinne Grant takes us on an emotional rollercoaster as she explores the roots of her hoarding addiction and how she managed to regain control of her life.
Grant has a really engaging writing style and there are plenty of laugh-out-loud moments. For example, when she moved out of the apartment she'd shared with her boyfriend, she could only afford a flat in a dodgy area in Melbourne: "[It had] a bathroom so mouldy it was like walking into the Little Mermaid's grotto--if the Little Mermaid had been a sloppy old tart with scant regard for legionnaire's disease" (p. 31). There are also lots of funny references to 1980's popular culture that will have all children of the 80s digging out their Boy George T-shirts, fluoro lippy and hoop earrings. But in amongst the humour, there are many poignant moments as she makes herself vulnerable and shares what was going on in her life and how she got into such a state in the first place. It's like talking to an old friend over a cuppa--the kind of friend who's seen you at your worst and loves you anyway.
There are tips on decluttering, but this book is not a decluttering manual. It's so much more because it gets to the heart of the matter. Hoarding isn't about materialism or a penchant for untidiness. It's a sign that something is amiss in your life (e.g. emotional pain, regret, unfulfilled dreams, holding onto things that are holding you back). Corinne realised she had emotionally booby-trapped her house and writes of the freedom that came with taking back control.
At one point, she went to Jordan and did some sightseeing before meeting up with a UN official to meet refugees. As she looked out of her hotel window that night, she reflected on the landscape she'd seen that day: " ... a part of me wanted to know what it would feel like to live in a place as empty as that all the time. I imagined my flat back in Australia completely empty. No more hoarding, no more regret, fearless in the face of what other people thought of me. I lay on the bed and listened to that little voice deep inside me as it whispered, 'Go on, jump.' (p. 166).
This book affected me much more than I was expecting and has inspired me to declutter my own life. One of the best memoirs I've read.
Grant has a really engaging writing style and there are plenty of laugh-out-loud moments. For example, when she moved out of the apartment she'd shared with her boyfriend, she could only afford a flat in a dodgy area in Melbourne: "[It had] a bathroom so mouldy it was like walking into the Little Mermaid's grotto--if the Little Mermaid had been a sloppy old tart with scant regard for legionnaire's disease" (p. 31). There are also lots of funny references to 1980's popular culture that will have all children of the 80s digging out their Boy George T-shirts, fluoro lippy and hoop earrings. But in amongst the humour, there are many poignant moments as she makes herself vulnerable and shares what was going on in her life and how she got into such a state in the first place. It's like talking to an old friend over a cuppa--the kind of friend who's seen you at your worst and loves you anyway.
There are tips on decluttering, but this book is not a decluttering manual. It's so much more because it gets to the heart of the matter. Hoarding isn't about materialism or a penchant for untidiness. It's a sign that something is amiss in your life (e.g. emotional pain, regret, unfulfilled dreams, holding onto things that are holding you back). Corinne realised she had emotionally booby-trapped her house and writes of the freedom that came with taking back control.
At one point, she went to Jordan and did some sightseeing before meeting up with a UN official to meet refugees. As she looked out of her hotel window that night, she reflected on the landscape she'd seen that day: " ... a part of me wanted to know what it would feel like to live in a place as empty as that all the time. I imagined my flat back in Australia completely empty. No more hoarding, no more regret, fearless in the face of what other people thought of me. I lay on the bed and listened to that little voice deep inside me as it whispered, 'Go on, jump.' (p. 166).
This book affected me much more than I was expecting and has inspired me to declutter my own life. One of the best memoirs I've read.
May 20, 2018
Review originally published on A Keyboard and an Open Mind 21 May 2018:
I am the opposite of a hoarder. I am so up for clearing out and donating or otherwise getting rid of “stuff”. So I did have a bit of a morbid curiosity regarding how one becomes a hoarder. I’ve seen some of those TV shows where someone comes in and just starts throwing things out, but they never really seemed to deal with the whys and wherefores.
Corinne Grant does go into this aspect. She talks about the psychological barriers that prevented her from throwing out anything, and how hard it was to ever face the fact that she had too much stuff. I have to admit, this first section of the book was quite sad, bordering on depressing.
I did become more engaged once Corinne began discussing the catalyst for the change in her mindset, which led to her beginning to clear out her stuff. This included a trip to Jordan, where she interviewed refugees, and realised that the problems she had paled in comparison to these people. Having just travelled to Nepal last month to witness the work being done by UN Women post-2015 earthquakes, I engaged with this section on a personal level.
I was rooting for Corinne as she faced her demons and changed her life, and I had some feelings of second-hand pride at the end. This is definitely an uplifting story, and I recommend if you are into reading memoirs, or if you have an interest in the subject matter.
This review is part of my Australian Women Writers Challenge for 2018. Click here for more information.
I am the opposite of a hoarder. I am so up for clearing out and donating or otherwise getting rid of “stuff”. So I did have a bit of a morbid curiosity regarding how one becomes a hoarder. I’ve seen some of those TV shows where someone comes in and just starts throwing things out, but they never really seemed to deal with the whys and wherefores.
Corinne Grant does go into this aspect. She talks about the psychological barriers that prevented her from throwing out anything, and how hard it was to ever face the fact that she had too much stuff. I have to admit, this first section of the book was quite sad, bordering on depressing.
I did become more engaged once Corinne began discussing the catalyst for the change in her mindset, which led to her beginning to clear out her stuff. This included a trip to Jordan, where she interviewed refugees, and realised that the problems she had paled in comparison to these people. Having just travelled to Nepal last month to witness the work being done by UN Women post-2015 earthquakes, I engaged with this section on a personal level.
I was rooting for Corinne as she faced her demons and changed her life, and I had some feelings of second-hand pride at the end. This is definitely an uplifting story, and I recommend if you are into reading memoirs, or if you have an interest in the subject matter.
This review is part of my Australian Women Writers Challenge for 2018. Click here for more information.
October 30, 2014
Incredible and Hilarious. I knew I was disorganized, and have always joked about being a hoarder...but didn't realize how close to home this book would hit. Corrine was able to talk about the intense emotional issues that lie under the surface while still totally approaching the whole crazy situation of clinging to "stuff" with humor and optimism. It is like eat. pray. love for people who can't let go of their personal belongings. Beautiful, funny, sad, dysfunctional and redemptive all in the same breath.
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November 16, 2010I laughed , I cried, I identified..... Fabulous book and yes I have started decluttering with a whole new mind set. Thanks Corinne.
May 3, 2013
Interesting memoir of a woman who gradually realizes she's a hoarder and starts working to overcome the problem. She did a good job explaining hoarders' emotional connections to objects--she might hurt her socks' feelings if she throws them out, and her mom's old broken breadbox reminds her of after-school snacks around the kitchen table. Every object in Corinne's life is linked to a memory, and she's afraid she'll lose the memories if she gets rid of the objects.
A turbulent breakup with a long-term boyfriend throws Corinne's world into a tailspin, and she finally realizes she has to grow up and remake herself. At the beginning of the book she's utterly useless: she can't create a budget, make friends, or live by herself without falling apart. It's unclear how she got to this point. She blames the whole thing on a chance encounter with a little girl in a toy shop when she was a child, which I found bizarre.
But whatever Corinne's issues were, she finally finds a way to overcome them. It seemed a little simplistic to me: she took a week-long yoga trip to Bali and then spent another week visiting refugees in Jordan, and then suddenly she had a psychological breakthrough. She came home, threw away all her junk, wrote off the ex-boyfriend, and became a completely different person. So...all it takes is a few days of meditation and suddenly you're a different person? I'm happy for her but kind of skeptical.
The trip to Jordan was my favourite part of the book. At the time the book was written, about 10% of Jordan's population was made up of refugees from wars in the Middle East. That's a stunning figure, especially considering that the two countries I call "home" throw a fit when asked to take in a couple of hundred refugees. It was interesting to me that the Sunnis and Shiites said they all worshiped in the same buildings and lived in the same neighbourhoods before Iraq's war with the United States. Some of them didn't even KNOW they were Sunnis and Shiites before the outside world started turning them against each other. I wish that section of the book had been longer.
A turbulent breakup with a long-term boyfriend throws Corinne's world into a tailspin, and she finally realizes she has to grow up and remake herself. At the beginning of the book she's utterly useless: she can't create a budget, make friends, or live by herself without falling apart. It's unclear how she got to this point. She blames the whole thing on a chance encounter with a little girl in a toy shop when she was a child, which I found bizarre.
But whatever Corinne's issues were, she finally finds a way to overcome them. It seemed a little simplistic to me: she took a week-long yoga trip to Bali and then spent another week visiting refugees in Jordan, and then suddenly she had a psychological breakthrough. She came home, threw away all her junk, wrote off the ex-boyfriend, and became a completely different person. So...all it takes is a few days of meditation and suddenly you're a different person? I'm happy for her but kind of skeptical.
The trip to Jordan was my favourite part of the book. At the time the book was written, about 10% of Jordan's population was made up of refugees from wars in the Middle East. That's a stunning figure, especially considering that the two countries I call "home" throw a fit when asked to take in a couple of hundred refugees. It was interesting to me that the Sunnis and Shiites said they all worshiped in the same buildings and lived in the same neighbourhoods before Iraq's war with the United States. Some of them didn't even KNOW they were Sunnis and Shiites before the outside world started turning them against each other. I wish that section of the book had been longer.
February 9, 2011
There were three motivations behind me picking this book up at the library. The first is that I am a fan of Corinne Grant who is an Australian comedienne who regularly appears on one of my favourite shows, Good News Week. The second is that having not long finished Stuff: Compulsive Hoarding and the Meaning of Things I was interested in seeing just how much of a hoarder a 'celebrity' could be and thirdly because I had nominated the book for my Aussie Authors Challenge.
I think Corinne approaches her personal story of hoarding with humour while still acknowledging that it's a serious issue. While her habit never reached the televised extremes (in shows like Hoarders), as she describes it, it certainly impacted on her life in a detrimental way. Corrine is able to describe her attachment to things in a way that makes sense to me, in fact its not all that different for my own reasons for keeping the boxes of things that crowd my spare room. Like Corinne I tend to attach memories to objects and I could relate to her story in a way I can't to the extreme compulsives. In fact I am wondering if I am uncomfortably close to Corinne's original level.
Mixed in with Corinne's hoarding story are the personal anecdotes of her childhood, career and broken romance, mostly these stories to show how circumstances influenced her hoarding behaviour.
If you have difficulty in letting things go then this book might offer you some motivation or insights into your behaviour, if not its still and interesting read. Lessons in Letting Go is an entertaining and unpretentious memoir with insight into the issue of hoarding.
I think Corinne approaches her personal story of hoarding with humour while still acknowledging that it's a serious issue. While her habit never reached the televised extremes (in shows like Hoarders), as she describes it, it certainly impacted on her life in a detrimental way. Corrine is able to describe her attachment to things in a way that makes sense to me, in fact its not all that different for my own reasons for keeping the boxes of things that crowd my spare room. Like Corinne I tend to attach memories to objects and I could relate to her story in a way I can't to the extreme compulsives. In fact I am wondering if I am uncomfortably close to Corinne's original level.
Mixed in with Corinne's hoarding story are the personal anecdotes of her childhood, career and broken romance, mostly these stories to show how circumstances influenced her hoarding behaviour.
If you have difficulty in letting things go then this book might offer you some motivation or insights into your behaviour, if not its still and interesting read. Lessons in Letting Go is an entertaining and unpretentious memoir with insight into the issue of hoarding.
May 15, 2012
Corinne’s memoir took an interesting slant in comparison to most comedic autobiographies currently on the market by Australians, to which I have read a couple. Surprisingly her story isn’t really about her success in the comedy industry rather it’s about the development of her inner strength and the desire to overcome not only her obvious hoarding predicament but also her self-doubt, insecurities and confusion over who she is as a person.
I believe this memoir was originally released last year, but has been re-released in May 2012 in a new paperback format, so I snapped up the opportunity to have a read of this memoir after reading some raving reviews, and it did not disappoint.
What really stood out for me about Lessons in Letting Go, is Corinne’s honesty with hints of humour but not too much to gloss over the difficult times in her life. She doesn’t scorn her weaknesses; she puts them out in plain view for everyone to see and begins to unravel them until she gets to the bottom of what it is all about. This confident, bubbly comedian who I have loved to watch on television shows such as Rove and Good News Week back in the day, behind closed doors was really quite anxious and overwhelmed with fear of letting go and being alone.
It was quite a feat, reading the process that Corinne undertook to de-clutter not only her home but also her overworking mind to move on with her life. I loved her honesty around her difficulties with her ex-boyfriend Thomas and how her best mate Adam stood by her through thick and thin.
Whether you are a fan of Corinne Grant in her professional life or not, I think Lessons In Letting Go is a really enjoyable memoir that will have you thinking it’s time for a spring clean!
I believe this memoir was originally released last year, but has been re-released in May 2012 in a new paperback format, so I snapped up the opportunity to have a read of this memoir after reading some raving reviews, and it did not disappoint.
What really stood out for me about Lessons in Letting Go, is Corinne’s honesty with hints of humour but not too much to gloss over the difficult times in her life. She doesn’t scorn her weaknesses; she puts them out in plain view for everyone to see and begins to unravel them until she gets to the bottom of what it is all about. This confident, bubbly comedian who I have loved to watch on television shows such as Rove and Good News Week back in the day, behind closed doors was really quite anxious and overwhelmed with fear of letting go and being alone.
It was quite a feat, reading the process that Corinne undertook to de-clutter not only her home but also her overworking mind to move on with her life. I loved her honesty around her difficulties with her ex-boyfriend Thomas and how her best mate Adam stood by her through thick and thin.
Whether you are a fan of Corinne Grant in her professional life or not, I think Lessons In Letting Go is a really enjoyable memoir that will have you thinking it’s time for a spring clean!
April 22, 2012
Although Corinne Grant is a comedian, this book is not really a comedy. While it is enjoyable, and has some comic moments, the strength of the book is the honesty with which Grant reflects open a time in her life when she was struggling and process she followed to get her life back on track. I raced through this book, at first compelled to discover how Grant would overcome her compulsive hoarding problem, and then inspired by her great success.
Even those of us who aren't true hoarders often have more stuff cluttering up our lives than we really need, and this book offers inspiration and tips to make the de-stuffing process easier. I delivered 2 large cartons of donations to my local op shop within a day of finishing reading!
Even those of us who aren't true hoarders often have more stuff cluttering up our lives than we really need, and this book offers inspiration and tips to make the de-stuffing process easier. I delivered 2 large cartons of donations to my local op shop within a day of finishing reading!
December 27, 2012
Who would have thought that funny clever woman I had so often admired on TV had such a disorder. Corinne Grant's memoire/guide.. I'm not exactly sure what to call it-was such an interesting, motivating and sometimes personally painful book to read. Corinne is so honest in her recount, analysing how and why she realised she was a hoarder and how she eventually let go of all that stuff. It is very easy to read, in fact after I started it last night, I had to force myself to put it down and go to sleep, Corinne had me as enthralled as I would have been with a suspense novel, I just HAD to keep reading to find out how she did it! If you are a hoarder (or have hoarding tendencies), know or love a hoarder or just want an interesting read, I'd recommend this.
January 3, 2017
I was enjoying this book at the start however it goes into a strange place towards the end when she writes about her trip to Jordan. It seems forced and politically motivated. The storyline also involves a lot of repetitive pining over her ex-boyfriend which is part of the topic of letting go but I found to be a very boring plot point.
January 3, 2013
It was like an eat pray love hoarder version. Corinne's adventures are fun and, being a reformed hoarder myself, for me, it is the emotional strings and memories attached to the object that makes it hard for me to let go. or the person who gave it to me. This book was really cool.
September 15, 2010
really this was too hard - not that funny and not as informative as (example) Throw Out 50 Things. More of a pity fest, actually.
January 16, 2013
I was listening to Corinne and was interested by her story, thought provoking and fun!
http://www.abc.net.au/local/stories/2...
http://www.abc.net.au/local/stories/2...
November 20, 2022
Realised I had already read this one. It can’t have made much of an impression the first time either!
March 11, 2025
Very insightful and thoughtful 🤔
Liked the twenty steps at back of book
Very heart warming
Liked the twenty steps at back of book
Very heart warming
August 2, 2011
This book is touted as being an uproariously funny memoir. Whilst it is a true memoir and has a few funny moments, I certainly didn’t find it hilarious.
I connected with a frightened eight-year-old Corrine in the Walton’s Department Store. It was a moment in time when I formed a deep bond with the book which remains with me even though I finished reading the book several weeks ago.
Corrine’s life as a hoarder began at such a tender young age with a ball of finger knitting. Once the emotional attachment was formed, she continued through her life to adulthood forming attachments to every single thing she owned. From pencils she used in primary school, clothes she’d outgrown and a love letter she wrote to Bruce Springsteen. Corrine even hoarded a flat (apartment).
I have seen television shows about hoarders and in the past I have been utterly mortified at how they live. The amount of junk they collect is horrifying to my very neat demeanour. Ok, I’m a bit of a neat freak. Since reading this incredible memoir, I have a clear and concise understanding of why hoarders attach so much importance to stuff – they treat their belongings as their companions.
The point of change was fascinating and reached on Corrine’s incredible and life changing journey to Jordan. From there it took exactly one year for her to de-hoard her life, starting with a call to a professional organiser, who helped Corrine begin the sorting process.
The greatest thing is that a confident woman emerged from the depths of her stuff.
It’s a courageous and amazing journey.
Highlights:
• I gained a true understanding of why people become hoarders.
• The writing is crisp and witty.
• Truly an enjoyable, insightful and sometimes heart-tugging read.
Lowlights:
• None.
Summing Up:
Truly a great read and a book which will remain forever on my bookshelf.
I connected with a frightened eight-year-old Corrine in the Walton’s Department Store. It was a moment in time when I formed a deep bond with the book which remains with me even though I finished reading the book several weeks ago.
Corrine’s life as a hoarder began at such a tender young age with a ball of finger knitting. Once the emotional attachment was formed, she continued through her life to adulthood forming attachments to every single thing she owned. From pencils she used in primary school, clothes she’d outgrown and a love letter she wrote to Bruce Springsteen. Corrine even hoarded a flat (apartment).
I have seen television shows about hoarders and in the past I have been utterly mortified at how they live. The amount of junk they collect is horrifying to my very neat demeanour. Ok, I’m a bit of a neat freak. Since reading this incredible memoir, I have a clear and concise understanding of why hoarders attach so much importance to stuff – they treat their belongings as their companions.
The point of change was fascinating and reached on Corrine’s incredible and life changing journey to Jordan. From there it took exactly one year for her to de-hoard her life, starting with a call to a professional organiser, who helped Corrine begin the sorting process.
The greatest thing is that a confident woman emerged from the depths of her stuff.
It’s a courageous and amazing journey.
Highlights:
• I gained a true understanding of why people become hoarders.
• The writing is crisp and witty.
• Truly an enjoyable, insightful and sometimes heart-tugging read.
Lowlights:
• None.
Summing Up:
Truly a great read and a book which will remain forever on my bookshelf.
April 5, 2013
They say that a messy desk shows a messy mind. After reading this book I felt like I've got a better understanding of the connection. I've started looking at the stuff around me in a different way. Grant is so funny on the TV that I thought this book would also be funny. But there was actually only one part that was laugh out loud. The rest just feels like a very open and honest conversation. She talk of feelings of self worth and it's comforting to know that other people can get just as wrapped up in negative spirals that don't actually reflect who we are. I particularly liked the section around page 180 when she looks back on what the relics of her university life actually shows and is able to see herself as the world saw her - accomplished and talented.
I picked up this book as light relief after reading a classic text for uni. The writing style is light and funny and I breezed through most of it in an evening and this morning, just one section towards the end that I spent a bit more time reading as the situation isn't something I have read a lot about.
Funnily enough it's not even my book. So I can start the clearing out by returning it to it's rightful owner.
I picked up this book as light relief after reading a classic text for uni. The writing style is light and funny and I breezed through most of it in an evening and this morning, just one section towards the end that I spent a bit more time reading as the situation isn't something I have read a lot about.
Funnily enough it's not even my book. So I can start the clearing out by returning it to it's rightful owner.
August 15, 2015
A funny and heart wrenching story of anxiety and how it can manifest itself. Under her beautiful, funny and confident facade Corrine was full of anxieties, questions and confusion. Just like most of us. Which just makes me love her more.
From someone who comes from an entire family of level 7-9 hoarders, this book was very good at explaining why hoarding can happen and how no one can deal with it except the person involved. And it can be dealt with, but it takes understanding and time.
My anxiety manifests by being frightened I am really a hoarder and one day it's going to bust out of my chest "Alien like" and take over. I'm OCD about throwing things out and get great pleasure from finding ways of reducing what I own.
I am finding balance, understanding and great advice for both sides of the coin from the following website. These guys are geniuses at explaining our relationship to stuff and what we can do about it.
http://www.theminimalists.com
From someone who comes from an entire family of level 7-9 hoarders, this book was very good at explaining why hoarding can happen and how no one can deal with it except the person involved. And it can be dealt with, but it takes understanding and time.
My anxiety manifests by being frightened I am really a hoarder and one day it's going to bust out of my chest "Alien like" and take over. I'm OCD about throwing things out and get great pleasure from finding ways of reducing what I own.
I am finding balance, understanding and great advice for both sides of the coin from the following website. These guys are geniuses at explaining our relationship to stuff and what we can do about it.
http://www.theminimalists.com
April 10, 2014
I bought this while on holidays....I'd been wanting to purchase it for a while but never quite got around to it until jet setting across the globe (interestingly enough the book does talk of travel as well).
I went in with barely any info on what the book was about except I liked the title of the book and I vaguely knew who Corinne Grant was but it had been ages since I saw her on TV.
In some ways I think it was brave to write about being a hoarder and how it affected her life and HOW much her life revolved around it. It's basically her adventure from coming to the realisation that she has a serious problem and the need to de-clutter her life of broken relationships and doing a serious de-clutter of her possessions.
I went in with barely any info on what the book was about except I liked the title of the book and I vaguely knew who Corinne Grant was but it had been ages since I saw her on TV.
In some ways I think it was brave to write about being a hoarder and how it affected her life and HOW much her life revolved around it. It's basically her adventure from coming to the realisation that she has a serious problem and the need to de-clutter her life of broken relationships and doing a serious de-clutter of her possessions.
April 6, 2011
Corinne Grant, comedian, broadcaster and now writer, takes a year out to sort out her mess. A compulsive hoarder from way back, Corinne comes to the realisation that she has too much stuff, having kept everything she’s ever owned - from every scrunchy to every broken pencil and torn piece of paper. Moving flats after a break-up proves to be the straw that breaks the camels back – she has nowhere to put all her stuff! “Lessons in letting go” describes the year in Corinne Grant’s life where she decides to finally do something about her compulsion. It is also a year in which she runs away overseas (twice) and head-butts two people (accidentally) and she learns to grow up and let ‘it’ go. A very funny read that I can totally relate to.
August 20, 2015
An honest account of Corinne Grant's slow realization that she was drowning herself in emotionally-drenched items of her past and her fantasy future. It doesn't solve reader’s problems if they too hoard items, but it does shed some light on the idea that there is a reason to the madness. And through Grant's account of how she helped herself through the mess and into the present here and now, readers can see that although it is a difficult Pandora Box through which they must wade, "letting go" is possible.
January 20, 2016
An interesting entry in the ranks of (the somewhat cluttered) decluttering books. Not a how-to, but kind of a subtle how-to, as you follow Corrine's evolution from someone crippled by mental and physical baggage to the person she now is - able to free herself from those fears. It's no easy ride - despite being funny, but not a comedy book, it's also very sad at times. I found this a lot more useful than the "if you haven't worn it in the last year..." brigade as it gets under the surface of Corrine's hoarding to the cause of it. Recommended.
September 30, 2018
This is a wonderful memoir by Australian comedian and personality Corinne Grant whose honest, courageous, engaging, insightful and charming story took me on an emotional rollercoaster ride that I could really relate to- as I have a hoarder in my life and know just how hard it is for them to 'let go'. Ms. Grant takes us on her journey from the roots of her hoarding addiction, through the highs and lows, to finally regaining control, and finding balance in her life.
Funny, informative, engaging and really well written!
Well Done!
Funny, informative, engaging and really well written!
Well Done!
July 16, 2015
Not only is Corinne Grant a lovely, funny person - apparently she can write a damn engaging book. I was glued to this depiction of a year in her life in which she attempts (with varying degrees of success) to master her hoarding problem. At times educational but mainly just plain FUN. The book also includes her own made-up rating scale of messy homes, and one is a scarily accurate portrayal of my house.
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