Product Description

“Not only funny, it’s also fully triumphant...a heartbreaking pleasure to read.”(Elle)

Suzanne Finnamore didn’t see it coming. Well, she saw some things—for example, a cocktail napkin on which her husband had scribbled a Cole Porter love song and an indecipherable name—but she refused to acknowledge it. She was busy tending to their son and creating the perfect home. Until the night it all imploded. “I deserve happiness,” he said, which apparently translated into ousting her from his life. At once funny, sad, and unflinchingly fierce, this memoir will resonate with anyone who has endured the end of a relationship—and come out on the other side changed.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #856137 in Books
• Published on: 2009-04-07
• Original language: English
• Number of items: 1
• Dimensions: .65" h x 5.50" w x 8.25" l, .50 pounds
• Binding: Paperback
• 272 pages

Features

• ISBN13: 9780451226006
• Condition: NEW
• Notes: Brand New from Publisher. No Remainder Mark.
• Click here to view our Condition Guide and Shipping Prices

From Publishers Weekly
California journalist and author Finnamore (The Zygote Chronicles) renders a sharp, cut-to-the-quick account of her painful divorce after five years of marriage. Living in the canyons of tony Marin County with her marketing v-p husband, N, and their toddler son she calls A, the author is devastated by N's announcement that he wants a divorce—and yet she is not surprised. In brief, astute chapters riddled with a dry, deadpan humor, the author reconstructs this surreal journey from giddy romance with a suave older man (she is 40, while he is in his 50s), through motherhood and the dawning suspicions of his infidelity, to his abandonment and denial that he is involved with someone else. Finnamore enlists various characters to see her through her crisis, which spans denial and anger, grief and acceptance: her jaded, long remarried mother, Bunny, who brings the pain-killers and stocks the house with junk food; her no-nonsense diminutive friend Lisa, who remarks upon hearing the news of the divorce, You have no idea how I have longed for this day; and her vehemently antimarriage childhood buddy Christian. Eschewing a divorce lawyer, Finnamore manages to come through with the help of her friends and conveys in this frank, winning memoir her supreme vulnerability and bravery. (Apr.)
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From Booklist
In this mordant memoir, novelist Finnamore takes readers through the dark, devastating days of her divorce. She begins with the moment her then-husband, referred to only as N, announces he’s leaving (he tells her she’s beautiful first), tracing her traumatic emotional journey through denial, anger, bargaining, grief, and, ultimately, acceptance. It’s not that there weren’t signs: a woman’s name scribbled on a cocktail napkin, a small volume of Zen poetry amorously inscribed to N. But Finnamore can’t believe that a relationship sprinkled with romantic moments and satisfying sex became so ravaged and raw. Finnamore changes names and details to protect the innocent. She also directs plenty of invective at her ex (though she says the two are now best friends). Part advice manual, part rant, this potent read percolates with Finnamore’s acerbic wit: There are so many marriage ceremonies, she writes, there ought to be one for divorce. Instead of rice, people could throw fistfuls of cash and light hallucinogens. --Allison Block

Review
"Finnamore, already an accomplished novelist, easily makes the transition to creative nonfiction. Progressing through Elisabeth Kubler-Ross's five stages of death and dying - denial, anger, bargaining, grief, and acceptance - she expertly creates... a treatise on an important subject in family relations - divorce - describing how she learned of her ex-husband's infidelity, realized he wasn't the right man for her, struggled as a single mother, and came to terms with losing her status as a "happily married woman." Recommended.
—Library Journal

"SPLIT is brilliant, poignant and completely unique. Suzanne Finnamore has refined her caustic wit to the point where it is now an assault rifle perfectly aimed at both herself and marauding spouses throughout America. Her voice captivates even the most jaded lovers."
—Augusten Burroughs, #1 New York Times bestselling author of Running With Scissors

"So Perfectly Right. I loved it, loved it, loved it. p.s. Loved it."
—Haven Kimmel, #1 New York Times bestselling author of A Girl Named Zippy

"SPLIT is heart-rending and beautiful; Finnamore is a master storyteller, and this time, the story is her own. She is that rarest of things on today's literary landscape— a truly great writer, the real deal. This book will never let you forget it."
—Darin Strauss, author of More Than It Hurts You and Chang and Eng

"Powerful. SPLIT reads like a greased bullet."
—Judith Moore, bestselling author of Fat Girl

"SPLIT is a terrific piece of writing. Powerful, moving, well-written, with some profound and sometimes poetic insights into the human condition. I ask no more from literature."

—Gerald Nicosia, author of Memory Babe

“A sharp, cut-to-the-quick account of painful divorce....In brief, astute chapters riddled with a dry, deadpan humor, the author reconstructs this surreal journey…Finnamore conveys in this frank, winning memoir her supreme vulnerability and bravery.”
—Publishers Weekly

"Finnamore...easily makes the transition to creative nonfiction...Progressing through Elisabeth Kubler-Ross's five stages of death and dying-denial, anger, bargaining, grief, and acceptance-she expertly creates scenes spiced with dialog to convey her emotions. Good reading; recommended."
—Library Journal

Customer Reviews

A must read.
This story, while heartbreaking, was inspiring. There is life after divorce, you just have to get through the hard times first. I really connected with the characters and felt the story really resonated with me. It wasn't an uplifting story, of course, but one that I feel needs to be told and read by people like me. A must, must read for anyone who has ever felt the pain of loss then then thrill of moving on. Another good read about this subject matter--Playtime.

Highly Recommended
I have read every book on this subject (divorce). Although it came out a bit late in the day (decade) for me - or rather for my own divorce - it still provided still needed succor. Funny and beautifully written and studded with sentences you will want to write down. Highly recommended.

Very true portrayal of women going through divorce
I could not put this book down. Finnamore brings the utter angst, grief and full gamut of emotions one experiences when getting divorced in this wonderful memoir. I look forward to reading her novels and wish her the best.