Dear Abby and Ann Landers were never like this.
The modern agony aunt typified by Tiny Beautiful Things’ ironically named Dear Sugar eschews nice, neat and polite for a spicy and raw communal confessional. This compilation of columns immerses viewers in a 95-minute deep dive into all of life’s messiness and contradictions – glorious, ugly, painful, funny, petty, profound, sickening and uplifting.
Of course, the traditional newspaper advice columnist had limited space to impart their wisdom, in contrast to the new generation’s free-flowing online page inviting contributions unfettered by word counts.
Author Cheryl Strayed had already published her notable debut novel, Torch, when she took over as Dear Sugar in 2010 on TheRumpus.net. After sharing heartfelt and hard-earned life lessons with readers for two years, she also revealed her identity, a month before the publication of her memoir Wild, followed in July 2012 by her anthology, Tiny Beautiful Things: Advice on Life and Love from Dear Sugar. Both made the New York Times best-seller list and were published internationally.
Both also drew Hollywood treatment. Academy Award winner Reece Witherspoon produced and starred in...
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