“David Foster Wallace once said he believed that sincerity would be the next literary rebellion […] It’s true that in the snark-saturated media landscape, my growing pile of thank-you notes had begun to feel almost subversive.”
I can’t say I’d call thx thx thx “subversive,” and in the grand scheme of rebellion, it would rank somewhere between Arthur Fonzarelli and a peanut butter and jam sandwich, but still Dietrerich’s sincerity does manage to give her book a unique poise that sets it far apart from the summer’s ubiquitous romance novels.
While the recipients of her thank you notes tend to be commonplace, her witty insights are far from mundane. It’s as though she took stock of all the little things thrown in life’s grab bag and realized she only had silver linings. The spirit of gratitude Leah brings to the page is charming, enchanting even. I opened the book, expecting to be overwhelmed with temptation to thumb through and find the best entries, but once she caught my attention, she kept it.
Her bite-sized bits of genuine praise to the unexpected, like “bird shit” and “pants that look slim but don’t cut off the circulation to my crotch when I sit down,” are clever in their subtle grace. To that end, her more overtly poignant notes are made even more-so by their brief wit, as in:
Dear Everything,
Thank you for happening for a reason.
Cheers,
Leah
Yes, the notes are short and relatively few and thx thx thx turned out to be a page-turner that was overall too fast. The book’s opening seems to imply that it contains a year’s worth of thank you notes, but Leah’s website reveals that the book contains 100 cards that will never be posted on her blog. The book works out to having roughly 200 entries. Discovering this left me feeling a bit shortchanged as a reader.
If you’re looking for a juicy read to keep you company poolside, this won’t do the trick. But if you’re in the market for a unique and breezy read to set on your coffee table, do yourself a favor and pick up thx thx thx: thank goodness for everything. You can thank me later.
Read Leah’s thank you notes and order thx thx thx at her website: thxthxthx.com.
****
