If you could share a powerful, forbidden secret with a complete stranger with no fear of reprisal. . . would you? And if many, many people share secrets so big, so huge, what might those stories look like? Well this book is exactly that. A confessional.

I ate this book up like candy! It is incredible how powerful an admission is, knowing you won't be found out. I think Bala had an incredibly unique idea, to post an ad on Craigslist, allowing anyone who would want to contact her. Some people truly just need someone that will listen to them.

This was a book unlike one I've ever read.. and if you'd like a completely different reading experience, than this is for you!

I’ve always been a huge fan of the “Post Secret” website and book collection, and this book reminded me so much of that, yet it also brought a deeper sense of commiseration for me as a reader.⁣
Unlike the brief secrets that are mailed in, the author collected her stories after placing an ad on Craigslist, first receiving them by email and then bravely meeting the subjects in person. Over time, she realizes that she has become a sort of therapist for these strangers, and she can often see the weight being lifted from them after they have unburdened themselves. ⁣
While there are some positive stories within, many of these confessions deal with heavy subject matter including abuse, rape, SIDS, homophobia and bigotry, so a trigger warning is in effect for those readers who are sensitive to these topics. My heart often broke for many of the people Helena talks with, and I commend them for their strength in speaking their truth. I saw myself in a certain number of these strangers, and it was reassuring to know that I am not alone in my feelings or experiences. ⁣
I enjoyed the way the book was set up, as it felt like you were sitting across from these people just like the author was. Helena makes it a point to transcribe the conversation exactly as it was told to her, so that it came across as real as it is. As disturbing as some of these confessions were, I do hope the author has more material for a second installment. ⁣

Thank you for the opportunity to review Craigslist Confessional by Helena Dea Bala. This seemed, from description, to be intended to be a light, entertaining read. It largely lived up to that description/assumption. Is it my favorite book of 2020? Nope. Is it one I'd think of when recommending to friends? Probably not. But I wouldn't caution people against it, either. It's fine for what it is.

A woman meets with people through a Craigslist ad and i to share a story without judgment. She shares forty of these stories in five categories: Love, regret, loss, identity, and family.

Some stories were hard to read but it helps one to see how different life is for some people and how fortunate I have been to live the life I have.

I'd not read Dea Bala's column, nor heard of her project before, of letting the unheard be heard. Such a wonderful concept. We're surrounded by stories, but we seldom hear them. Dea Bala changes that, and good for her. The stories in this collection are short, about four pages each, and they are heart-wrenching, educational, hopeful, though-provoking, and important. Dea Bala presents them well, retaining the voice of each author while obviously editing for clarity. This is a book to keep on your nightstand for occasional reading, as trying the chew on more than a few essays at a time is enough. It's an excellent way for us to get to know the neighbors we'll never meet, or at least hear the stories our friends won't tell us. I thank Net Galley for a review copy in return for an honest review.

I'm a huge fan of Humans of New York, so I was obsessed with this one from the first page! It's depressing, but that's life! Reading into these 40 people's confessions was thoroughly enjoyable and I'm already waiting for another one!

Thanks to Netgalley and the publisher for my advanced copy!

I love having a peek into the lives of others. This book is perfect for all my fellow nosy people. Some stories are very heartbreaking and you may relate to some. I think this would make a great coffee table book or a book that you take your time with and read a couple entries a day or so.

Such a clever idea for a book. But, ultimately, it just didn’t work for me. First, the categories that divided the stories I presume were meant to provide structure, but I think mixing them up like a well cultivated mixed tape would have been more appealing to me. And, of course, the stories were hit and miss.

This was a really interesting read, the stories were interesting and it's amazing what can be confessed when you're anonymous. It was a well done read and I enjoyed reading this.

I would like to thank NetGalley, Gallery Books and author Helena Dea Bala for providing me with an ARC of this novel.

What an awesome, awesome idea. Craigslist Confessional is pure genius. This book allows you a glimpse into 40 different people’s lives, you just have to be willing to listen. This is a wee bit depressing, but also revealing; and aren’t people’s deepest confessions on the dark side? This was a super easy read and it was nice to pick up off and on. The multiple short stories make it super quick to get through. This is a lesson in listening to HEAR what the person is saying, not listening to then glaze over everything they just said to talk about yourself.

Thank you to those named above for the opportunity to read and review this ARC!

"Craiglist Confessional" reminds us of the important idea that every person has a story. At times, the story is one of success and victory. Other times, the story is one of life going in a downward spiral. In some situations, the story is combination of both.

Helena Dea Bala reminds us of the power of listening. She displays that individuals want to tell their stories - they just need someone to be willing to listen without judgment.

An education is available to all of us to hear the story of others.
Take the time to read and learn the stories of these individuals.
This will inspire you to be a listener and learn of those around you.

If you enjoy Post Secret and Humans of New York you will love this. This book albeit depressing was an entertaining view into a forty different peoples lives and their lifechanging incidents broke into 5 sections. Since the sections are so short it's hard to "disappear" into the book..

Perhaps Craigslist Confessional by Helena Des Bala isn’t the right book to read during isolation if you’re an empath? If you’re looking for uplifting, this isn’t it. If you like reading Humans of New York, this is for you. It’s simplifying to say that this is a book of bummers - lots of drugs, cheating, unhappiness, but that’s the nature of confessions, isn’t it? You don’t need to confess when you’re happy and things are going great. Be kind, especially now. You never know what someone is going through.

A TRAGIC CANVAS OF AMERICAN MORAL & EXISTENTIAL SQUALOR

I liked the idea behind the Craigslist Confessional and loved the book cover. While not all stories were captivating—some stories were rather tame, or just tepid, and we all know Craigslist is the land of the shameless and the outrageous— many were quite powerful and offered a worthy panorama of human experience.

The book is a slow burner. I wasn't grabbed by the first few stories, but I found myself swept away gradually, by a canvas of tragic lives that confirmed Tolstoy's view that most people live lives of quiet desperation. Many stories are very touching and leave you rooting for their protagonists. Others creep you out. A few are a bit unclear and hard to follow, and I wondered why they weren't left out or better line-edited.

Turns out that America suffers from rampant depression and deep-rooted addiction: alcoholism, drugs, sex, PTSD. Men don't get enough sex in their marriages after the babies are born and look for it in all the wrong places. destroying their families for the high of feeling alive again, which they live to regret; the economic instability destroys even the most successful businesses and shatters even the most perfect families; at the same time, the system gives little chance to kids coming from poverty, regardless if they are black or white; surviving life in America is often harder than surviving life in prison; new moms kill their newborns by negligence and keep having and killing more, without an ounce of guilt, other women have affairs while pregnant by their husbands; the nice man you marry may be gay or the worst sexual pervert who has just moved from another state where he had wrecked the life of one or several ex-wives.; students become prostitutes to finance their drug addiction. Only merit-based immigrants with high IQ, arrived on student visas, seem to enjoy the American dream in the safe haven of academia, though life is little more than just survival even for them... For the rest-- sky is the limit when it comes to pain and trouble.

What I liked the most about the book was the return to pure storytelling, which is very refreshing in a literary market plagued and stifled by the compulsory rule of show-don't-tell that makes today's fiction read like a predictable day-time drama, described by a TV camera mounted inside and outside the characters. I wish Simon and Schuster and other big publishers would free contemporary fiction of the straitjacket imposed by all the creative writing gurus and re-allow plain storytelling "rights" in literature. Why only grant them to anonymous Craigslist writers of moderate talent? Pure storytelling has survived for thousands of years on its own merits!

What I liked the least about the book was the price point, at least 10 dollars higher than what would be reasonable, especially once half the country is going to go bankrupt because of COVID-19. While I didn't have to worry about this since I received a review copy, I wouldn't have bought the book at $24.99, unless, perhaps, as a gift for someone's birthday, which would be an excellent idea,

In conclusion, I warmly recommend this book for any reader who is not afraid of dark subjects that may down your mood.

This is an honest review in exchange for a free copy of the book from NetGalley.

This was a great book! If you are a fan of Humans of New York, you will really appreciate this book. It is a quick read. it has mini stories throughout the book so it is easy to get hooked!

When the author becomes disillusioned with her career and feels like she is miserable and needs a change, she meets up with a homeless man who tells her his story. She begins to seek out others on Craigslist to share their stories and ends up making a career out of the stories that she is told. Each story is a confession of sorts and emits such emotion and heart. There is a lot of pain in the world and people have trials that no one knows anything about. I thought there definite value to these people being able to share their stories and for people to get a glimpse of someone else's burdens and trials. Thanks for the ARC, Net Galley.

Much in the same way Postsecret and Humans of New York captured our collective attention on the stories of others, ”Craigslist Confessional” has done just the same. Each story is one from a random person who the author met on Craigslist. From the first story, I already had tears in my eyes. This book is perfect for some quick entertainment or for more heartfelt stories - it truly has such a variety that there’s a story in the book for everyone.

Definitely not a book that you can judge by the cover. Just by looking at the current cover, I expected a fluffy, light read but that was definitely not what I got! I enjoyed this book so much! The stories included are deeply moving, disturbing and poignant. Thank you NetGalley and the publisher for the advance reader copy.

Author Helene was living in D.C. working as a lobbyist when craving meaningful human interactions she puts an add on Craigslist offering to be a listening to ear to whomever needed to talk and feel listened to.

For the next five years Helene meets with strangers from all walks of life collecting their life confessions, stories that they have rarely voiced even to loved ones. It is a collection of 40 of these stories that make up Craigslist Confessional, under the headers Love, Loss, Regret, Identity, and Family; stories of immigration, racism, sexism, molestation, physical and mental abuse, drug use, suicide, eating disorders, rape, failed marriages, sex addiction, cheating, fortunes lost, sickness, untimely deaths, and the occasional stories of hope
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The book is marketed towards “fans of Humans of New York and Postsecret”, which in a way it is; Craigslist Confessional Is made up of 40 essays written in the voice of their teller, giving glimpses into the greatest heartbreaks of their lives.The essays are beautifully crafted, and the reader gets the true sense of the differences in the tellers stories and lives from one another.

However, Craigslist Confessional differs from Humans of New York and Postsecret, in that the confessions found here are deeper and darker, than the more humanizing journalistic approach (Real Humans of New York) or more gossipy (Postsecret) reads.

If you're drawn to this book by the cover, put this book down; this is not the light hearted fun summer read of strangers confessions that you want it to be. The proposed cover of Craigslist Confessional, although catchy and utter perfection for bookshelves displaying summer reads, is not at all an accurate representation of the depth of the read awaiting you under the cover. I expect many people will be disappointed by the book, not by the quality of content, which is excellent, but by the false advertising of the cover art.

Couldn’t put this book down - stayed up all night reading! The stories we uplifting, sad, emotional, and cause for reflection all at the same time - just a great and interesting read!