Thank you to Christie Tate and Simon & Schuster UK for a copy of the book in exchange for an honest review.

As I've said before: I LOVE a memoir. The more ordinary the person, the better! Me and nosey self just love a snoop into other peoples' lives and BOY did I get a snoop!

Christie is a law student battling with an eating disorder and intimacy issues and finally decides to take the plunge and start therapy. She is recommended Dr Rosen by one of her friends and she goes to meet him and he drops a bombshell: she must join group therapy.

I have to admit, at this point I would have jumped ship if I were Christie. The thought of group therapy scares the hell out of me. Christie had a similar uneasy feeling, but decided to go for it and I'm so glad she did because...well, you will have to read it to find out!

The group Christie joins (plus the later ones) have one key rule: no secrets. Patients openly discuss each others' private lives both in group and out as a way of releasing shame and building intimacy. Some of the things Christie had to share was very intimate and I'm not sure how she did it, but it was fascinating.

I want to meet Dr Rosen!

Wow, what a unique idea for a book. I am sure many people can relate to this story and found myself thinking more about the benefits of talking to people. I am now looking to see if this author has any more books that are so unique!

I loved this book it is very well written and very interesting. I loved reading about Christie, her boyfriend's and the groups she attended. Dr Rosen was on to a good thing the amount she spent per month on groups OMG.

Group by Christie Tate is a larger-than-life memoir that makes you question: how can so much happen to a person, and can they still, then, have a happily-ever-after ending?

In her debut memoir, lawyer and writer Christie Tate shares her experience of group therapy. It's an unconventional form of group therapy: there are no requirements for confidentiality among members, and the members are to disclose each and every aspect of their life weekly during the 90 minutes session. While this seemed outlandish and an absolute scary way of therapy, the process and the end results changed my opinion about it.

At the start of the book, we find out that Christie is a valedictorian at her law college and suffers from bulimia. One day, when she was driving around Chicago, she started having vivid suicidal ideation, which seemed uncharacteristic of her. But there was a reason for it: she felt loneliness stemming from the lack of a romantic relationship in her life. 26 and feeling like a loser about love, Christie goes to her friend's house for dinner one day, where she is introduced to the man who would change her life: Dr. Rosen. And group therapy.

While initially hesitant about the scarily candid nature of the discussions at group therapy, Christie starts learning the basics. Like, feelings have only two syllables, and hence 'defensive' is not a feeling. But 'ashamed' is. Crossing your legs while sitting in a circle means you're not open to sharing, you're hiding something. And the group is meant for you to share every tid-bit of everything: friendship, family, sex, dating, romance. And when the discussion in the group continues in the book, we find out that everything also includes venting about the therapist and other group members.

Meeting by meeting, hour by hour, Christie uncovers the buried aspects of her past. She speaks about them, bawls about them and tears up teddy bears in anguish. She is assigned members of the group to call for 1. to report the food she's had during the day 2. to get a daily affirmation to keep going in life. She climbs up the ladder of love, urged on by group members. And when she eventually falls down, the group members are there to catch her and hold her when she's crying.

This book gives you a reader a front-row seat to the relatively lesser explored form of therapy in India - group therapy. It's a read that will keep you up all night to find out what happens to Christie in the end. After all, who doesn't love the journey towards a romantic goal?

Also, once you're done reading this book, check out the author's post in the Modern Love section in the New York Times which is a perfect epilogue for the book.
https://www.nytimes.com/2017/12/08/st...

Trigger Warnings: Eating disorder, Mental Illness, Body Shaming, Sexual Content, Suicidal Thoughts.

Powerful, raw and honest. Group: How One Therapist and a Circle of Strangers Saved My Life is an unflinching account of how therapy truly can help if you find the right therapist and group.

Group is an interesting memoir on the experience of group therapy.

Tate is a skillful autobiographical writer, approaching her subject with brutal honesty and striking just the right balance between humour and misery. Her story makes for a compulsive, engaging read.

The therapy itself made me a little uncomfortable at times, with Dr Rosen's unconventional approach and problematic line-crossing. In many ways it was a bit like reading about a cult.

But red flags aside, it was interesting to see the effect the group had on its attendees and the bond they shared, and I genuinely cared about every success and every pitfall.

Group is affirming, but never saccharine - a bold and bare-faced memoir.

An interesting insight to other forms of therapy and how people react to them and feel about them. There was lots of humour and lots of sad bits but it was a very interesting read and helpful to know that a lot of us have the same worries and fears...

This book! I read it in just a few giant gulps, and found something that resonated with me on almost every page. It’s so open, raw and honest, and the relationships between the author, her therapist, her group mates and herself really moved me. Powerful, unflinching and hopeful, I loved it.

This book tells the story of the author and all the years and stories of therapy

I enjoyed reading this book

With thanks to Netgalley & Simon & Schuster UK for the arc of this book in exchange of this review.

I did not like the protagonist of this book at all but I can’t pinpoint why. The book in itself is compelling. I was also happy that the author put the post script in at the end it stopped the books ending from being too abrupt. This is a non fiction book that reads like fiction.