THE WOUNDED HEALER

“We’re constantly finding things not to love about ourselves,” writes Chaleff in his latest book, following 2018’s The Last Letter. “The things that have been quietly eating away at us. Our weaknesses and mistakes. Our embarrassments and failures. Our disappointments and frustrations.” The Last Letter culminated in a simple, jarring hypothetical statement the author posed to his readers: “If you knew someone in your life would die tomorrow and you had one last chance to express feelings to him or her, what would you say?”In this volume, Chaleff takes that query on the road, traveling around the United States to ask people questions and hear their tales. In Big Sur, California, for instance, one such conversation ends: “We laugh. We then speak openly for the next half hour, seeing one another, feeling closer, appreciating the different ways we live.” This salutary undercurrent of understanding and even healing found in personal storytelling runs throughout the book, with the author returning repeatedly to his disarming question: What would your last letter to your loved one say? What things are most important for you to pass on? The work is lavishly illustrated with uncredited color photographs of the people and places Chaleff encountered, but it’s the personal elements that are the most memorable. These aspects extend to the author himself, who at one point relates a trip he made to his mother’s grave (“Even though I have spent so much time sharing the pain in sessions, standing back at this moment isn’t easy”). The necessarily episodic nature of the narrative can make some of the confessional vignettes feel a bit repetitive, and occasionally Chaleff can, ironically enough, come across as more focused on getting to his next session than actually spending time with people. But the simple conviction of communication shines through.

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