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Because Bridges weaves his personal story into the narrative he comes off as a wizened sage rather than a cocky aficionado. "Change can come at any time, but transition comes along when one chapter of your life is over and another is waiting in the wings to make its entrance," he begins. "Needless to say it is impossible to imagine a new chapter is starting when your wife's death has just closed down what feels like your whole life. You simply cannot imagine a new chapter...." Overall, this is a book that offers an abundance of insights without faltering into self-help clichés or specific how-to advice. Instead, Bridges examines the events that bring about transition (marriage, death, change of vocation, tragedy, and crisis) and why it's so important to fully experience these transitions and how they offer opportunities for closure as well as launch pads for enormous personal growth. Readers of The Way of Transition will find an author who manages to be humble, accessible, and highly intelligent as he weaves the writings of Tolstoy, Herman Hesse, Emily Dickinson, Carl Jung, and Anäaut;is Nin into his personal reflections. --Gail Hudson --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.
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Most helpful customer reviews
1.0 out of 5 stars
Hard to read,
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This review is from: The Way Of Transition: Embracing Life's Most Difficult Moments (Paperback)
William Bridges writes so informally it is challenging to read. He often has run on sentences that jump between present and past tense. A very frustrating read, especially with unnecessary fillers. It is as if he writes "sigh" "ummm" "ugh" throughout the text. A very disappointing writing style coming from an English professor.
2 of 2 people found the following review helpful
5.0 out of 5 stars
Moving -- and very timely,
By
This review is from: The Way Of Transition: Embracing Life's Most Difficult Moments (Hardcover)
I read Bridges' "Transitions" about four years ago, when I had just been laid off unexpectedly from my job, and I found it extremely helpful and reassuring. So I bought this book mostly out of curiosity how Bridges himself would handle one of life's most painful transitions. He begins by alternating between an autobiographical account of his wife's final illness and death, and more theoretical chapters discussing transitions in general. But as the story continues with his stunned reaction to her death, and his attempts to embark on the next phase of his life, the personal and the theoretical merge. I was impressed by his honesty -- he's candid about his self-doubts, about himself and his late wife (warts and all), and about the joys and struggles in their 37-year marriage. This made his story all the more compelling by showing him not as the all-knowing "expert," but as someone who's gained his expertise from hard-won personal experience. As he points out repeatedly, life changes don't follow a neat, predictable pattern; but if we embrace the process of transition and are open to what it brings, everything DOES work out eventually (his tentative, bumbling attempts at dating a casual acquaintance develop into love and a second marriage). The book is a fascinating story, but along the way I learned a great deal about life transitions in general (every parent should read his remarks about planning your children's lives!). And at a time when we in the US have just gone through a painful transition ourselves, and are struggling to redefine ourselves and our role in the world, I found his remarks surprisingly relevant on a larger scale too.
4.0 out of 5 stars
Rolling with the Changes,
This review is from: The Way Of Transition: Embracing Life's Most Difficult Moments (Hardcover)
In the wide-ranging realm of self-help books, "The Way of Transition" is something of a cross between "Passages" and "Tuesdays with Morrie." Like "Passages," it describes in simple, easily understood terms the stages one goes through when dealing with an important life transition. Like "Tuesdays," it draws on a painful yet inspirational encounter with fatal illness - in this case, that of the author's wife.Those attempting to deal with big transitions in their lives are likely to find this book comforting and helpful. I did. But don't pick it up if you're looking for easy answers, clever techniques, or lists of things to do to turn your life around. As the author himself puts it, the "way" in the book's title is meant to describe a path, not a technique. So his approach is more descriptive than prescriptive. He wants to help you understand what you're going through but doesn't presume to have the answers. He leaves it up to you to figure out what to do. Bridges' main point is a fairly simple one: that the rootless, confusing transition period one undergoes following a death in the family, divorce, career change or other transformative event should be embraced, not avoided or evaded. These difficult periods of transition, he argues, are precisely the times when we are most likely to be creative and open to inspiration. He illuminates this deceptively simple message with stories from his own life, especially how he dealt with his late wife's battle with cancer. He also sprinkles in lots of poignant quotes from others to help get the point across. At times, the book borders on the spiritual. There is an underlying assumption that each of us has a sort of personal spiritual quest buried within us and that the purpose of our lives - and all those painful transitions - is to somehow coax out this latent quest and bring us a little closer to enlightenment. Most people who read self-help stuff would probably accept that assumption. But those whose temperament and tastes are more clinical than spiritual might find this short volume a little too warm and fuzzy.
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