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Option B

By: Sheryl Sandberg, Adam Grant
Narrated by: Ms Elisa Donovan
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Publisher's Summary

Random House presents the unabridged downloadable audiobook edition of Option B by Sheryl Sandberg and Adam Grant, read by Elisa Donovan.

New York Times best-selling authors of Lean In and Originals: a powerful, inspiring and practical book about building resilience and moving forward after life's inevitable setbacks.

After the sudden death of her husband, Sheryl Sandberg felt certain that she and her children would never feel pure joy again. 'I was in "the void,"' she writes, 'a vast emptiness that fills your heart and lungs and restricts your ability to think or even breathe.' Her friend Adam Grant, a psychologist at Wharton, told her there are concrete steps people can take to recover and rebound from life-shattering experiences. We are not born with a fixed amount of resilience. It is a muscle that everyone can build.

Option B combines Sheryl's personal insights with Adam's eye-opening research on finding strength in the face of adversity. Beginning with the gut-wrenching moment when she finds her husband, Dave Goldberg, collapsed on a gym floor, Sheryl opens up her heart - and her journal - to describe the acute grief and isolation she felt in the wake of his death. But Option B goes beyond Sheryl's loss to explore how a broad range of people have overcome hardships including illness, job loss, sexual assault, natural disasters, and the violence of war. Their stories reveal the capacity of the human spirit to persevere...and to rediscover joy.

Resilience comes from deep within us and from support outside us. Even after the most devastating events, it is possible to grow by finding deeper meaning and gaining greater appreciation in our lives. Option B illuminates how to help others in crisis, develop compassion for ourselves, raise strong children, and create resilient families, communities, and workplaces. Many of these lessons can be applied to everyday struggles, allowing us to brave whatever lies ahead.

Two weeks after losing her husband, Sheryl was preparing for a father-child activity. 'I want Dave,' she cried. Her friend replied, 'Option A is not available,' and then promised to help her make the most of option B.

We all live some form of option B. This audiobook will help us all make the most of it.

©2017 Random House AudioBooks; 2017 Sheryl Sandberg

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Entitlement thy name is Sheryl Sandberg

Where to begin. Grief is an experience unique to each person. Grief is painful and deep and brutal. I think most of us understand that, but to be lectured to about how relatable she is as she is whisked away to a private island to help her, by her boss, a fellow billionaire, to grieve while not worrying about whether she can feed or house her children? that she won’t lose her job, her future, her children’s basic needs for survival after the death of her spouse? at moments in the book she stated she knew she was lucky and yet continued to say ( I paraphrase) if not for the help of my super rich friends and high powered job with security I just don’t know how I would have coped. This is not inspiring. It is yet another person of incredible privilege attempting to tell others with much less they just need to “Stick with it” and it’ll be ok.

It’s a shamefully indulgent display of “ pick me” desperation to be given a crumb of oppression. I don’t diminish the pain of her loss but to try to speak to others about coping with that loss when you literally have the backing of the worlds riches people, please, take your manufactured relatability and stick it in the next rocket one of your bosses launches into space.

I know multiple people who’ve endured trauma greater than yours and grappled with the facts it’s meant they’ve lost their homes, security and a stable future for their kids. I’m disappointed I didn’t know who the author was prior as I’d never have given an audible credit towards this condescending self indulgent tripe.

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6 people found this helpful

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Hated it

What could have made this a 4 or 5-star listening experience for you?

Had to grit my teeth to listen to this book. The narrators voice went through my brain. The sound of nails on a challkboard would have been more pleasant.

What was most disappointing about Sheryl Sandberg and Adam Grant ’s story?

I really struggled to empathise with the author. I couldn't relate to her at all.

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5 people found this helpful

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Great book up emotionally heavy

This is a great book to learn some tactics and strategies to overcome adversity and building resilience in a framework of grieving.
I would highly recommend this for people who are learning to deal with grief due to the loss of a loved one or helping someone who has lost a loved one.

Some of the strategies and tactics can carry over to other aspects of facing adversity and building resilience but this book offers little in situation examples other then in the context of loss of a loved one.

The book is quite emotional and could potentially be triggering for some people - I personally had some nights of rough sleeping thinking about the concept of loss and grief.

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2 people found this helpful

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A wallow in pain

I tried so hard with this book. I was looking for tools to build a life with chronic illness leaving me in grief and loss, needing to create a plan B life.
This book taught me nothing.
I have so much sympathy for the author losing her husband, but it's a repetition of the grief on every single page. I saw no Plan B, and couldn't push myself to the end to hear if there was one.
if anything the book messed me up more because she said without the supports in her life she wouldn't have survived the loss - and I don't have those supports in my life, so I'm deeply doomed when I do lose a loved one.

This is no self-help book at all, but a wallow in pain.

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  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
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Touching

Devastating yet enlightening story with a practical and hopeful approach to finding inner strength. Not just for those grieving, but for everyone.

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The book everyone will need in their lifetime

Loved this book, resilience is something we all need to improve on. Very moving story which unfortunately will relate to everyone at some point of their lives.

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True self help

This book is worth all five stars. I'm a psychologist and learnt so much from this book. Excellent self-help for those experiencing hard times. This book is the perfect combination of personal experience and solid strategies of recovery.

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Great Read

Fantastic view point of grief, resilience and love. Must read and transferrable to all aspects of life! Adam Grant is an amazing addition to the story! Xx

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  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
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Really excellent narrator, always enjoy Sheryls writing

I really enjoyed lean in so was keen to hear the next book, to be far it was very well written and there were some useful takeaways but I do feel I would have got more from it if I'd been going through loss of a loved one - she does a great job of explaining tactics and sharing very personal accounts of what happened to her. Overall a good listen, tho not all that uplifting to myself personally

Just to let you know, I work for Audible, but the views expressed in this review are 100% my own.

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  • Overall
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A constant emotional assault!

Would you try another book written by Sheryl Sandberg and Adam Grant or narrated by Elisa Donovan?

I would consider another book from Sheryl Sandberg / Adam Grant based on Option B. The narration was consistent though may have benefited from deeper expression of the emotions contained in the book.

Would you be willing to try another book from Sheryl Sandberg and Adam Grant ? Why or why not?

The content was powerful and provided many points to connect with. Option B clearly demonstrated that no one is alone when they are going through a rough time - we all have our challenges.

Any additional comments?

Option B is a well constructed work that provides a clear picture of how Sheryl managed through an extremely traumatic experience and connects this with events that many of us will be able to relate to.

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