Falling Apart in One Piece: One Optimist’s Journey Through the Hell of Divorce
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- ISBN13: 9781416595564
- Condition: NEW
- Notes: Brand New from Publisher. No Remainder Mark.
Product Description
The emotionally charged tale of a divorce that brought the surprising gift of grace
Just when Stacy Morrison thought everything in her life had come together, her spouse of ten years announced that he wanted a divorce. She was left alone with a new house that needed a lot of work, a new baby who needed a lot of attention, and a new job in the high-pressure world of New York magazine publishing.
Morrison had never been one to judge in fairy tales. As far as she was concerned, pleased endings were the product of the kind of ambition and hard work that had propelled her to the top of her profession. But she had permanently considered her relationship with her spouse a safe place in her regularly stressful life. All of her assumptions about how life works crumbled, though, when she learned that no amount of will and determination was going to save her marriage.
For Stacy, the only solution was to keep on living, and to listen—as deeply and openly as possible—to what this experience was teaching her.
Told with humor and heart, her honest and intimate account of the stress of being a effective mother while trying to make sense of her unraveling marriage offers unexpected lessons of like, forgiveness, and dignity that will resonate with women everywhere.
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I disagree with the reviewers who felt this book had a “poor me” tone. I didn’t get that out of it at all. For a name to be enjoying a normal evening at home with her spouse of 10 years and her baby son, and to have that spouse suddenly announce the marriage is over, you are entitled to be as sad as you want. The additional problems seem to explode over night…the floods and fire. I loved the way she described human interactions between her friends and her child with such honesty and clarity. This was a very excellent read on an appealing topic that I have not read about before. Loved it.
Reader’s Rating: 5 / 5
Although the book’s tagline (“One Optimist’s Journey through the Hell of Divorce”) might lead you to reflect this is a book about divorce, don’t let it fool you. This is a tale about relationship — to oneself and to others. It’s a tale about authentic intimacy and deep compassion. It’s a tale about allowing. About courageously stepping into and through dread. About finding a place of “no blame” — a place of size and peace.
No, this book is not about divorce. It is really a like tale. It’s about the like shared between a woman and a man, a woman and her child, a woman and her friends, a woman and herself … a woman and her life. (At least that’s my take on it!)
In “Falling Apart in One Piece,” Stacy helps us navigate the treacherous world of rage, the paralyzing world of dread, and the mysterious, gorgeous world of like — and everything in between. Although I don’t ever recall her using the word “enlightenment,” I see this tale as a model for my own belief about what enlightenment means: opting for tie over separation, moving from darkness into light, choosing like over dread. Every time Stacy lets herself feel her rage and then makes a choice to act out of like, I am bolstered by her courage and able to see my own ability to make persons life-affirming choices.
I’m not a name who dog-ears pages in books. But if you could see my copy of “Falling Apart in One Piece,” you’d notice a whole slew of dog-eared pages! I couldn’t help myself. This book is perfectly written — an awesome combination of raw emotion, humor, insight, and tale. All my dog-ears are places of insight that I want to return to, over and over again. (One of my favorites is: Life “isn’t black or white, right or incorrect, excellent or terrible. It’s everything all at once, many shades of gray, a gorgeous, poetic mess.”)
In between all that insight and introspection is a whole heck of a lot of just-unadorned-excellent tale. You know, like the kind of tale where you truly want to know how the protagonist is gonna get herself out of this one. And you just know she will.
I highly recommend this book for anyone who is interested in opening themselves up to what is possible in life. Stacy’s tale is written in such a way that I couldn’t help but read it as an invitation. Want to come to peace (and joy!) with the inexplicable, imperfect, incredible life you’re living? C’mon, I’ll show you the way.
Reader’s Rating: 5 / 5
Stacy Morrison’s “Falling apart in one piece: one optimist’s journey through the hell of divorce,” details the destruction of her marriage to Chris, who decides to place the leader after ten years of their relationship. Complicating the matters are copious factors. Stacy has just agreed birth to their newborn son Zack. They bought a house they can’t afford. Their new house floods every time there’s any precipitation. Stacy has recently been fired from her full-time job at Marie Claire magazine. And now, her spouse is leaving her.
Morrison doesn’t hold anything back–the sleepless nights, the heartbreak, and the construction of her new single-mom identity. The book also paints an appealing portrait of Chris, the ex who can’t cope in the real world and is tired of having Stacy make all the decisions for him. He complains about his tech job, secretly dreams of a screenwriting career, and tries to spend as small time with his son as possible. After he moves out, Chris leaves Stacy to pick up the fragments of their ancient life all by herself. Immersed in his dreams, he blames everyone around him but gets nowhere near solving his own problems.
In the midst of the crying baby, the falling apart house, and the crumbling marriage, Stacy is chosen to be editor-in-chief of Redbook magazine–ironically focusing on pleased marriages and women in the household. In additional words, if this wasn’t a right tale, this would be the perfect setup for a movie about how one woman’s life is just falling apart.
But, as reflected in the title, Stacy tries to become an optimist and change the way she is coping with her new life. Morrison flings herself into her new job, and finds herself in a new world–doing things like interviewing then-President George Bush and his wife Laura for a take in tale, or presiding over an annual Redbook event where presidential candidate John Kerry was the huge guest.
Eventually Stacy solves most of her problems, but her experiences make for an entertaining read.
Reader’s Rating: 5 / 5
I am over middle through this book, I’ve had a hard time putting it down. It’s a window into a self-struggle, a composite of thresholds, revealed with stark honesty. It dares anyone likewise treading rocky ground in a life-changing relationship, to walk through this tale with her and observe what she learned. And maybe is even still learning — about embracing situations that are inherently unembraceable yet hold surprising truths behind, as she puts it, “shoji screens” of convenience.
I find it intriguing how, like the marital partnership of two minds, familiar emotions we like to reflect we can control as a replacement for fought for shared space in the leader’s quest for clarity: peacemaker vs. aggressor; or denial struggle wish-fulfillment as a replacement for of enabling it. Not the usual depiction I come across in personal life tale and for me this added depth. So regularly accounts of broken relationships are place in clichéd terms with no hint and and I typically am left wondering if there isn’t more complexity beneath the surface.
There are no cliches of language here either, just prose that pulls you forwards and leavens the reality-check of suddenly-to-be-single motherhood with unique turns of axiom. Even the references to her growing list of numbered speculations on the Why’s of their ending marriage (reaching into the hundreds), it reminded me of another reflective favorite about relationships (Nick Hornby’s compulsive list-building in “High Infidelity”); but Morrison’s are strewn like asides throughout “Falling Apart” and less a contrivance than perhaps a nod to her line of work in the world of women’s magazines, where “# Reasons…” items are frequently on spectacle.
Even though I haven’t veteran marriage or divorce directly, there is a lot to admit here about the kind of tailspin resulting from an abrupt detour concerning a companion you’d permanently figured on building (pleasant) memories with while outpacing the unpleasant ones. I look forwards to finishing Morrison’s tale because I’m already realizing ways I’d reapproach any friend or acquaintance experiencing separation, failed reconciliation, or abandonment. Really anyone who’s been hit with a disastrous turn in a relationship or is coming to terms with parenting on one’s own should find some kernels of wisdom resonating in these pages.
Reader’s Rating: 5 / 5
This compelling book reads much more like a classic novel than most of today’s quickly forgotten “life tale.” There were many times that the pain was so palpable that that I factually had to look away from the page for a while before continuing. But there was also joy in many parts–especially the joy that Morrison obviously feels in finally realizing that she is her own person–for better and for worse, but really so much more for the better–an awesome and talented person who has now added “fantastic mom” and “fantastic writer” to the top of her resume!
Reader’s Rating: 5 / 5