PositiveThe Washington PostWhat happens when a marriage collapses? When you are no longer husband and wife, but just yourself, just a woman?...From this withered position, Cusk struggles early in the book to understand what went wrong. She had, after all, made efforts in her marriage to maintain her own identity, writing full-time while her husband watched their children … The writing is full of feeling, and even the stylistic oddities contribute to a sense of wandering and solitude, which, speaking from my own experience, feels entirely appropriate. For unlike marriage and motherhood, divorce has few playbooks.
Gloria Steinem
MixedSan Francisco ChronicleGiven today’s campaign climate, in which Planned Parenthood is attacked and Donald Trump applauded, there is a striking lack of anger in the book, which is perhaps why it is also sometimes a bit boring. While the first half is full of vivid writing, particularly the opening chapter on her father, the second half lags some. By then, her points feel made...but the stories just keep coming.
