Normal Gets You Nowhere
Author: Kelly Cutrone
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Last year, just before I graduated from college, I read and devoured IF YOU HAVE TO CRY, GO OUTSIDE by Kelly Cutrone. I quickly fell in love with her tough love advice, strong personality and larger than life attitude. As I prepared to begin my own career in PR, I took Cutrone’s words to heart.

When I heard that she was releasing a second book, NORMAL GETS YOU NOWHERE, it was a given that I’d pick it up. I absolutely loved the title and anxiously picked up a copy from my library and brought it down the shore for a long weekend. I knew it would be a quick but memorable read.

While I definitely did enjoy this book, I have to admit upfront, it just didn’t grab me as much as her first book did. Perhaps it was the subject matter and where I am at this point in my life. Last year, IF YOU HAVE TO CRY GO OUTSIDE practically fell into my lap at a time when I needed it most. I loved the career advice Cutrone offered, and I enjoyed hearing stories of how she starred her own PR agency. I hoped for more of this in her sophomore book, but NORMAL GETS YOU NOWHERE took  a different approach.

Cutrone’s sophomore book delves into her spiritual side. We learn her views on religion, holidays, the media, politics, life and death. While this book is certainly deep, it wasn’t quite what I expected when I picked it up.Even though I found the book a bit tiring to get through, I was able to find many nuggets of wisdom to take away with me when I finished the book.

One thing I did enjoy about this book was how much we got to  know Cutrone. We did get to know her in her first book, but this book truly dives into her personality and her spirit. I enjoyed hearing more of her personal stories- her relationship with her daughter Ava, her grandfather and then her father’s death. Cutrone definitely bared her soul in this book.

While I didn’t absolutely love this book, I remain inspired by Kelly Cutrone and can’t wait to see what she does next.

3/5