Blackened and changed

And other links for your Sunday

This week, I got a lot of angry emails from men, telling me I was miserable and bitter. And assuring me that their wives are happy and I have bad taste in men. And I have gotten a lot of email from women thanking me for my book telling me how they saved their lives by ending bad and abusive marriages and how they still felt judged for getting divorced. The are overlaps. I got one email from a man who said he read the book thinking he was a “good guy” only to get to the end and suddenly understand why his wife divorced him. Plenty of older women have chided me saying, that I sounded like I was recommending divorce and I’ve joyfully replied, “I am with my whole heart.” One man emailed me to tell me that surely I didn’t believe what I was saying, SURELY I was just making the best of a bad situation.

And I wrote back to him that I was not. I was saying my life is great. Better than ever and asking if his wife needed a copy.

This book came out at a moment when American society is fighting over what love and marriage and relationships should look like. It’s kicking up a lot of conversation and I am glad for it.

It was a pleasure to burn

Another man asked me if I was okay with ruining American society and I told him yes I was. It could use a little ruining. I was enjoying my own small part adding fuel to the flames. It reminds me of the line from Fahrenheit 451, “It was a pleasure to burn.
It was a special pleasure to see things eaten, to see things blackened and changed.”

And now some links.

This American Ex-Wife in the news:

I wrote for Glamour about burning my wedding dress and vowing never to marry again.

I talked to the CBC about divorce and why it’s great, amazing even,

An excerpt from the book ran on LitHub. It’s part of a longer chapter on the history of marriage.

Rolling Stone also ran an excerpt. This one is about what country music taught me about womanhood and freedom.

This American Ex-Wife was Esquire’s book of the month pick and I had this lovely interview with the books editor Adrienne Westenfeld.

I spoke to Amanda Marcotte at Salon about the book.

And the Times also had a review of the book, which maybe missed the point of the book, but hey I am just happy to be reviewed and have my thoughts considered. Also, she hilarious wishes me happy endings. Leading to my mom being shocked that my sex life was in the New York Times. And I cannot even tell you how delighted I am by that.

I loved this interview with Marilynne Robinson specifically because she talks about how people are so much freer than they imagine.

I was over on

Memoir Land

talking about my writing, bravery, and narrative personas.

And I talked to the amazing

Sara Petersen

about marriage having a moment in the discourse.

And now some more non TAEW links for your Sunday.

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