Falling Apart In One Piece

Yesterday I finished Falling Apart In One Piece: One Optimist's Journey Through the Hell of Divorce by Stacy Morrison, a memoir chronicling Morrison's own divorce experience. Morrison thought she had it all: a great career at a magazine, a new baby, and a recently purchased house. When her husband, Chris, announces one night that he is wanting a divorce, Morrison is shocked and devastated. The life she thought she had worked so hard for is gone - without any say from her. What follows is a period of grieving and self discovery as Morrison learns how to live as an independent single mother, making sense of her life and learning some truths about herself as well.

Throughout the book Morrison shares her feelings about how her life is unfolding and how little control she feels she has. While Chris is able to start over without having to deal with the day to day parenting issues - daycare, sickness, lack of time for herself- Morrison must deal with all of these things on her own.

I enjoyed Morrison's writing- the fact that she is a magazine editor is a good indicator that she is very capable of pulling off writing a memoir. As I was reading this book (which took me a while only because I read it only while running on the treadmill), I was amazed to discover two more divorce memoirs recently published. It seems that it is often feast or famine in terms of book topics, and apparently the topic of divorce is hot right now.

I'd like to check back in with Morrison in a few years and hear her perspective as more time has passed, and see what has transpired in her life.