Saving Graces: Finding Solace and Strength from Friends and Strangers

I read Saving Graces: Finding Solace and Strength from Friends and Strangers for two reasons. First, I’ve always liked Elizabeth Edwards so it was only a matter of time before I read one of her books, especially since her death in 2010. Unfortunately being a great person does not necessarily make for an interesting read. Saving Graces: Finding Solace and Strength from Friends and Strangers is most interesting when she details her childhood, especially her father’s impressive military record. The book then goes to her political awakening, a blink and you will miss it date and marriage to John Edwards to the death of her eldest and the elections. She is like a Dickens’ main character-affable, but everything happens to her. I learned nothing substantial about her legal practice. I know that she likes to sing on road trips, loves being a mom to her kids, neighbors and campaign staff and pioneered in participating and loving an online community. Indeed there are numerous excerpts of her online exchanges with a grief support group. Her late chapters read more like an acknowledgments section rather than a chapter from an autobiography. I know that writing an autobiography and being a political figure means that you can’t be as frank about your personal life as you would like to be, but seriously, her identity seems to be wrapped up in helping others, which is great on a personal level, but not riveting. Maybe she is just an extremely private person and cleverly handled a book deal. Second, I have a prurient curiosity about whether the scandal was obvious in retrospect. As a friend, Anthony Rao, can attest to, I never liked her husband though I had no idea why since everything that he said sounded great. After 2008, everyone knew what a complete and epic egotistical loser bag her husband was. Saving Graces: Finding Solace and Strength from Friends and Strangers unwittingly reveals all the signs that Edwards was a dirty dog: he kept losing his wedding rings so she bought five just in case; he was never home because of a “trial;” and he balked at the idea of giving her fertility injections even though he agreed to the prospect of more kids. Until the election section, he does not have an active role in her autobiography. She jokes about how the campaign would forget her and her daughter at an airport or neglect her by giving her and her kids a rickety plane. Even during the campaign, she isn’t with him. It has been a long time since I read Hilary Rodham Clinton’s first autobiography, but she didn’t reveal that those things happened to her on a regular basis, and if she did, I think they didn’t last long. Did Elizabeth Edwards know on some subconscious level? I think her eldest daughter did as she tells her dad to put away a t-shirt that he kept showing everyone about him being sexy. Ew. Saving Graces: Finding Solace and Strength from Friends and Strangers would make a great read for those in the midst of serious grief or struggling with a life-threatening illness, but is not for those who would like to learn more about Elizabeth Edwards.