Reviewing Whatever

My Secret: A PostSecret Book
By Frank Warren, 2006, from the library.

You should know
I stumbled upon the PostSecret website just days before finding this book on the shelves. I decided to check it out.

If you’re not familiar with it, PostSecret is a project in which readers send in anonymous postcards spilling their deepest secrets. Warren then posts a selection online every week, and periodically publishes a collection of postcards in book form. Postcards with every kind of secret (from the silly to the cryptic to the completely heartbreaking) are sent in from all over the world.

So?
How voyeuristic are you? How empathetic? When people reveal their hidden dark sides – or their hidden light sides – how does that make you feel? If you don’t know, you’ll find out quickly while reading this book.

At 144 pages, it’s short – exactly half the length of the first PostSecret book.

The secrets included are touching, but if you’re a regular visitor of the site, you probably won’t find many that are surprising – apparently, several of them have even been on the website in the past. While I’m glad I read it, I’m not sure it holds up to a re-read – and I’m definitely glad I didn’t pay $20 for it.

Rating
Check it out
From the library, that is. And while you’re at it, check out the website. I can’t think of anything to send in, but if you do, more power to you.

The rest of the Internet
The New York Times on PostSecret as art.
Columnist Kelly Mescall hopes Warren will someday come to Purchase College.
An interview with Warren.
The Wikipedia page on PostSecret.
A story about PostSecret at CNN.com.
Warren writes up a piece for the LA Times.
Richard Beck at Experimental Theology considers how PostSecret fits in with the Church.