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The Authenticity Experiment Paperback – July 24, 2017

4.0 4.0 out of 5 stars 25 ratings

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* * * Winner of the Independent Publisher Book Award (IPPY) BRONZE MEDAL in LGBT Non-Fiction! * * *

The Authenticity Experiment: Lessons from the Best and Worst Year of My Life is the new collection of essays from award-winning writer Kate Carroll de Gutes.

In 2012, Kate Carroll de Gutes found herself at a rest stop “ruined with anxiety. And when I say ruined, I mean in a car, in hundred-degree weather, with all the windows rolled up, sobbing and crouched in the passenger’s seat rocking and waiting for the Ativan to take effect. I posted on Facebook, ‘Hello, Redding. Dear gods yer hot.’ A funny post that let my family and friends know where I was, but not how I was.”

De Gutes didn’t yet understand how insidious social media had become—all of it curated to show a wonderful life, regardless of what was really occurring. But when her editor, her best friend, and her mother all died within ten months of each other, de Gutes could no longer keep up the charade.

She began The Authenticity Experiment as a 30-day challenge, wondering if she could be more honest about her days. She used social media as her new back fence, a place where she could stand and talk to her “neighbors” about the good and bad. The essays resonated with a wide audience, so de Gutes kept writing, chronicling the dark and the light, and putting it out there for everyone to see.

Praise for The Authenticity Experiment :

With The Authenticity Experiment: Lessons From The Best & Worst Year Of My Life, Kate Carroll de Gutes has written a masterful navigation of the human soul in both crisis and wonder. This collection of essays, written as an exercise of introspection and transparency in an era of cosmetic sincerity, combine to illuminate the complex landscape of a true artist’s mind through tragedy and fleeting completion. De Gutes’ pilgrimage in the process of grief attempts to either make desperate sense of the chaos in the vacuum of loss, or cling to those transient moments when things are, unexpectedly, crystallized — albeit briefly — in perfection, or the memory of perfection. Kate’s care for both language and craft, along with her gifts for insight, profound observation and wit, will resonate in the heart and mind of the reader for days afterward. It’s an incredible work worthy of sharing a book shelf with Joan Didion. Kate’s voice and heart will resonate among the best memoirists of our age. — Domingo Martinez, author of The Boy Kings of Texas

Kate Carroll de Gutes decided to spend a while doing what most of us don't do: tell the truth. Tell the truth to herself and then to everyone else, and the truth turns out to be funny, hard, sad, sweet, tough, confusing, tender and sharp. It's your truth, too. —Sallie Tisdale, author of eight books, including Violation, Talk Dirty to Me, and Stepping Westward

Kate Carroll de Gutes is the Annie Leibovitz of short essays. Most blog posts last as long as Snapchats, but The Authenticity Experiment: Lessons From The Best & Worst Year Of My Life—like stylized portraits—renders what can’t be seen, only felt. They offer readers a way to see, really see, and to love. With images like a scowling baby hawk and the ever-present Cannondale bike, she works through grief and marvels at its grit. — Kate Gray, author of Carry The Sky

Kate Carroll de Gutes' extraordinary The Authenticity Experiment demands an authentic quote. Reading it, which I did very slowly so as to savor each tiny, beautiful chapter, I thought: "Oh, oh, oh, this is so good. Oh! I love this! This woman can WRITE. How on earth has she composed a book about dying and grieving that radiates with so much joy, life, and humor? Okay, I'm buying a copy for everyone I know." You should too. — Karen Karbo, author of The Gospel According to Coco Chanel

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Product details

  • Publisher ‏ : ‎ Two Sylvias Press (July 24, 2017)
  • Language ‏ : ‎ English
  • Paperback ‏ : ‎ 200 pages
  • ISBN-10 ‏ : ‎ 0998631418
  • ISBN-13 ‏ : ‎ 978-0998631417
  • Item Weight ‏ : ‎ 7.8 ounces
  • Dimensions ‏ : ‎ 5 x 0.5 x 8 inches
  • Customer Reviews:
    4.0 4.0 out of 5 stars 25 ratings

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Top reviews from the United States

  • Reviewed in the United States on October 29, 2017
    I adored this book. It feels like hanging out with a real mensch, someone who's lived, like all of us, both an ordinary and extraordinary life. In an age when everyone and their great aunt is trying to shape their image on social media it is refreshing to read a real human voice unafraid to talk about the big and small moments, the way the best and worst moments seem to happen side-by-side.
    One person found this helpful
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  • Reviewed in the United States on April 30, 2019
    I lost my dad to early onset Alzheimer's. It will be 17 years since I last saw my dad, but I still miss him. I think I will always be sorting my way through grief and life and the struggle to be and to be gentle with my own (dear) self. In telling her own story of grief and life, Kate Carroll de Gutes has crafted a universally appealing narrative that is heartbreaking, hilarious, wise and wonderful. It's a book about loss, but more importantly, it's a book about the ongoing search for self, the fits and starts inherent to personal growth and the beauty and mystery of being human. "The Authenticity Experiment" is a shining example of the way all our small stories knit into a big, universal story.
  • Reviewed in the United States on August 13, 2017
    Done with the first read-through of the physical book. Even though I read The Authenticity Experiment on-line as it was published originally, there is something magical about having it physically in my hands. Something about the way Kate takes a deep breath between essays when you turn the page. Literally a change of seasons, and how my own perceptions and feelings gear up to receive the next section.

    Did I mention that I deliberately bought two copies, because I knew I would need a second one to share?

    I was right, but I might need a third copy for lending or gifting. Kate speaks not just for herself, but for all of us. Every few pages, I found her words piercing through my armor and touching upon the sad places, the ridiculous thoughts, the long-buried hopes and fears. You need to read this book, and maybe more than once. I will be reading it again.
    3 people found this helpful
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  • Reviewed in the United States on December 5, 2017
    What happens when your entire world falls apart? When you lose the people you love and who have anchored you in your life? Kate Carroll de Gutes takes us along with her as she moves through one of the best and worst years of her life. Like all of us, Kate noticed that people aren't exactly truthful on social media, and so she set out a radical experiment to share her authentic self. The result is the heart-broken, heart-breaking, and poignant book. And while that seem like a bummer, it's Kate's wonderful voice with all her humor and honesty that carries us safely through to the last page. Truly, everyone needs to read this book.
    3 people found this helpful
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  • Reviewed in the United States on April 16, 2018
    I’ve been a fan since Objects in Mirror Are Closer Than They Appear and an avid follower of the Authenticity Experiment blog. Kate de Gutes has a way with a sentence. Her writing is vivid, unfailingly honest and vulnerable, and her sense of humor never deserts her. Hers is the voice I want in my ear during my own dark times, and hers the grit I hope to find in myself. De Gutes reminds me that everything worth doing is a risk and has a cost, and that life happens before you’re ready. The Authenticity Experiment is about the difficulties and the joys of choosing, again and again, to be yourself and truly live.
    One person found this helpful
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  • Reviewed in the United States on May 23, 2018
    de Gutes is an extraordinary writer of essays. This book began as a challenge to herself to write a post a day for thirty days in which she told the truth about—and to—herself. She was in the midst of what she calls the best and worst year of her life, as she dealt with illness and death, settling estates, breaking up with her girlfriend, and more. Her examination of both the big picture and minutiae of life is thought-provoking. Her honesty about her feelings, her actions, her privilege make me want more honesty in my own life. Each small essay is one to be treasured, fondled, read again and again.
  • Reviewed in the United States on April 16, 2018
    This book is stunningly honest, emotionally rich, and humorous. Kate Carrol de Gutes faces difficult truths about her past, present, and future thoughtfully and compassionately. I found myself reading and rereading sections to figure out how she delves into her own memories and lived experience with such exactness and clarity. I recommend this book highly. Read it to understand what it is like to live through loss, finding healing in moments along the way. Read it to discover the writer's rich emotional landscape that may just broaden your own. Read it to feel less alone in the world.
  • Reviewed in the United States on December 3, 2017
    I fell in love with, Kate Carroll de Gutes, after reading her first book, Objects in mirror are closer than they appear. The Authenticity Experiment, did not disappoint, I really enjoyed it. Although I can appreciate social media and facebook it really made me smile that I have never had a facebook account. :) Great read.
    One person found this helpful
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