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I Found My Tribe
I Found My Tribe | Ruth Fitzmaurice
10 posts | 6 read | 7 to read
Ruths tribe are her lively children and her filmmaker husband, Simon, who has Motor Neurone Disease and can only communicate with his eyes. Ruths other tribe are the friends who gather at the cove in Greystones, Co. Wicklow, and regularly throw themselves into the freezing cold water, just for kicks. The Tragic Wives Swimming Club, as they jokingly call themselves, meet to cope with the extreme challenges life puts in their way, not to mention the monster waves rolling over the horizon. Swimming is just one of the daily coping strategies as Ruth fights to preserve the strong but now silent connection with her husband. As she tells the story of their marriage, via diagnosis to their current precarious situation, Ruth also charts her passion for sea swimming culminating in a midnight swim under the full moon on her wedding anniversary. An invocation to all of us to love as hard as we can, and live even harder, I Found My Tribe is an urgent and uplifting letter to a husband, family, friends, the natural world and the brightness of life.
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Sharpeipup
I Found My Tribe | Ruth Fitzmaurice
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Thank you Littens for being so welcoming and helping me both expand my reading horizons and tackle my TBR.

Amiable Happy Litsyversary! 9mo
AmyG 🎉🎉🎉 9mo
TheKidUpstairs Happy Litsyversary!!! 9mo
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Gissy Happy Litsyversary! 🎉❤️❤️❤️ 9mo
Sharpeipup @amiable @amyg @thekidupstairs @gissy thank you! Hard to believe it‘s been 7 years. 9mo
Sharpeipup @amiable @amyg @thekidupstairs @gissy thank you! Hard to believe it‘s been 7 years. 9mo
Sharpeipup @amiable @amyg @thekidupstairs @gissy thank you! Hard to believe it‘s been 7 years. 9mo
Sharpeipup @amiable @amyg @thekidupstairs @gissy thank you! Hard to believe it‘s been 7 years. 9mo
Sharpeipup @amiable @amyg @thekidupstairs @gissy thank you! Hard to believe it‘s been 7 years. 9mo
Daisey Happy Litsyversary! 9mo
40 likes10 comments
blurb
SRWCF
I Found My Tribe | Ruth Fitzmaurice
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Guys, I am not exaggerating when I say I am so very happy that I found this place! I tried Facebook and that fizzled out quickly. Next was Instagram, where book lovers seem more interested in taking pictures of books rather than actually reading or discussing them. Then there is Litsy. You guys are da best! 🥰

Nutmegnc So glad you‘re here!! 2y
SRWCF @Nutmegnc awww, thank you! 2y
KellyK I find myself scrolling Litsy much more than FB and I‘m happier for it! 🥰 2y
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TheSpineView Litsy is the best! 💓💓💓 2y
SRWCF @TheSpineView agreed! 2y
SRWCF @KellyK Definitely a more positive social media platform, that's for sure. 2y
RaeLovesToRead 100% 😊😊 Litsy is the most positive place on the internet! I've pretty much deleted all social media except for Litsy and Goodreads ❤ 2y
SRWCF @RaeLovesToRead the only social media apps I have on my phone are all book related! 2y
marleed I agree. Sometimes I think about this pandemic and how I might have negatively fared if not for Litsy. I love this space. 2y
SRWCF @marleed 💖💖💖 2y
GondorGirl This community is the absolute best! 🧡🧡 2y
Vansa Completely agree with you about Instagram-most "influencers" there seem to take more time composing the perfect aesthetics for a book than bothering about the book,one of them even gets book titles wrong!Really love Litsy too.You engage with books in so many different ways 2y
Simona Agree❣️ 2y
SRWCF @GondorGirl Indeed!💟 2y
SRWCF @Vansa That's what I like so much about this place; engaging with others on the topic of books! 2y
SRWCF @Simona 🙌 2y
61 likes16 comments
review
TrishB
I Found My Tribe | Ruth Fitzmaurice
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Pickpick

#buddyread with @Cinfhen gave it a pick because I was so engrossed in the story - I know what you mean about the writing, but I think it matched her life really and I would have felt the story would have been even more painful told in a linear, straightforward manner.
But, this is why I can‘t read real life sad very often, they are inside my head now and I‘m thinking about her and those kids! 👇🏻

TrishB Trying not to sound judgemental- I don‘t think I could have planned to have two more kids!! (edited) 4y
TrishB The Pooh Bear plate and the dog did me too. 4y
TrishB And he died on my 50th b.day!! 4y
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TrishB Using for chronic illness - #jennyis30 @jenniferw88 4y
Cinfhen Oh wow !! I didn‘t pay attention to the date and I should have warned u about the dog 😞I‘m glad you liked this one more than I did. I felt pretty awful not loving it more. I‘m pretty sure we have more books to buddyread 😜 4y
TrishB @Cinfhen I‘m sure we have! Just maybe fiction 😁 4y
96 likes1 stack add6 comments
review
Cinfhen
I Found My Tribe | Ruth Fitzmaurice
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Mehso-so

Picked this up a few hours ago for an impromptu #BuddyRead with my buddy @TrishB and poof, it‘s completed. Writing is jumbled,messy, hectic but full of grit, determination and a fierceness. Ruth‘s husband is diagnosed with MND & their well orchestrated life is thrown into chaos. It is a small group of women, her tribe, who help Ruth navigate her new normal by turning to the sea as a way of grounding her energies. Sad story but still inspiring.

Cinfhen It fits a bunch of challenge prompts and I‘ll share them tomorrow. I‘m too emotionally exhausted from this book right now to think about prompt boxes. 4y
Cinfhen My so-so rating is because this book felt like a sea swell and it was sometimes rough and tiring trying to get through Ruth‘s sugary writing and metaphors. I‘m in awe of her and admire her deeply but I‘m not sure I really enjoyed this memoir as much as I should have. 4y
Cinfhen Curious to hear your thoughts @TrishB !?!?! 4y
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TrishB Wow 😮 a lot to take in! I probably won‘t get to it until tomorrow night or Monday. This makes me very curious though. And are we cursed for buddy reads! 😘 4y
Cinfhen I‘m not sure @TrishB 😂😂we‘ll just have to try again 😘😘I‘ll be very curious to see how you react to this book. 4y
TrishB Very curious too! Will let you know when I start! 4y
marleed I would have chosen this book on title alone! 4y
BarbaraBB This sounds so sad... 4y
Cinfhen Beyond sad @BarbaraBB but it was put together in such a whirlwind that I didn‘t have time to actually sit with the story, if that makes any sense. The title is brilliant @marleed and this book was gifted to me by a fellow tribesmen @TrishB who I‘d always want on my team 🙌🏻😁💕 4y
TrishB 😘😘 4y
109 likes10 comments
blurb
Cinfhen
I Found My Tribe | Ruth Fitzmaurice
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I‘m just glad I found you my sweet friend🙏🏼❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️Thank you for always spoiling me and bringing laughter to my days xx Best to you and the family 😘Merry Christmas and Happy New Years 🎊🍾

TrishB So glad they got there! It‘s such fun sending stuff. A definite seasonal miracle of sorts! Enjoy. 😘♥️ 4y
umbrellagirl Merry Christmas 🎄🎄 4y
Cinfhen Thanks so much @umbrellagirl Hope you had a wonderful day and Happy New Year 🎊 4y
86 likes1 stack add3 comments
review
kaysworld1
I Found My Tribe | Ruth Fitzmaurice
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Pickpick

The last 3 chapters are hilarious.
This woman has had a shit life and is holding it together with humor and naked midnight swims with the girl's. 👏💕♀️
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#audiobook #librarybook #readingthelibrary #femaleauthor #femalereader 🍷😘

TrishB I now immediately want to read 👍🏻 4y
kaysworld1 @TrishB howling at the moon, naked swims, tea I would love a tribe like that ☕ 4y
TrishB Exactly 😁 sounds like the best stress buster! 4y
kaysworld1 @TrishB might have to try it in these UK waters 😯😆 4y
TrishB Lol!!! 🥶 4y
35 likes5 comments
blurb
BookNAround
I Found My Tribe | Ruth Fitzmaurice
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This is what my Friday night looks like. A warm Gatsby and an appealing book, what more could I possibly want? #schnauzersoflitsy #dogsoflitsy

YouReadMyEyes Schnauzer love 😘😘😘 6y
CindyMyLifeIsLit Your dog‘s name is Gatsby? That‘s awesome!! Every dog we‘ve gotten already has a name that it answers to. I still haven‘t had a chance to bestow a great bookish name. The dog we have now (adopted) is Oliver, so we call him Oliver Kingsley. 😁 6y
BookNAround @CindyMyLifeIsLit Yep. She‘s Gatsby and her late sister was Daisy. I love the name Oliver and would have assumed he was named for Oliver Twist. 😁 6y
73 likes3 comments
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ValerieAndBooks
I Found My Tribe | Ruth Fitzmaurice
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This was in my mailbox the other day, but I don‘t recall requesting it (not via LibraryThing, apparently). Maybe through one of the many bookish email newsletters I get?

It looks interesting, though— it‘s a memoir, and the author‘s husbands has/had a serious disability due to a chronic illness.

77 likes1 stack add
blurb
Rhondareads
I Found My Tribe | Ruth Fitzmaurice
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An emotional moving memoir a family a husband suffering from ALS ,escaping to the water to find solace from her husbands illness finds solace& a tribe of women who support help each other while healing through swimming.

review
GirlWellRead
I Found My Tribe | Ruth Fitzmaurice
Pickpick

Fitzmaurice doesn't use any type of timeline, or write in any kind of order. Instead, she chunks her staccato type narrative into mini essays. To be honest, it took me a while to get into her groove, there are times where she is all over the place and it feels like she has simply taken every thought in her head and put it on the page in order to make sense of her life. While this type of writing doesn't appeal to all, it works for this book.