Total Page : 256
Publisher : Simon Schuster
Publication Date : 2010 03 23
>> An Insightful Poignant Funny Love Story
Although the book s tagline One Optimist s Journey through the Hell of Divorce might lead you to think this is a book about divorce don t let it fool you This is a story about relationship to oneself and to others It s a story about authentic intimacy and deep compassion It s a story about allowing About courageously stepping into and through fear About finding a place of no blame a place of expansiveness and peace
No this book is not about divorce It is really a love story It s about the love 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 dangerous world of anger the paralyzing world of fear and the mysterious gorgeous world of love and everything in between Although I don t ever recall her using the word enlightenment I see this story as a model for my own belief about what enlightenment means opting for connection over separation moving from darkness into light choosing love over fear Every time Stacy lets herself feel her anger and then makes a decision to act out of love I am bolstered by her courage and able to see my own ability to make those life affirming choices
I m not someone 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 beautifully written an awesome combination of raw emotion humor insight and story 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 wrong good or bad It s everything all at once many shades of gray a beautiful poetic mess
In between all that insight and introspection is a whole heck of a lot of just plain good story You know like the kind of story 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 story 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 amazing life you re living C mon I ll show you the way
>> an entertaining read
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 leave the author after ten years of their relationship Complicating the matters are numerous factors Stacy has just given 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 husband 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 interesting 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 little time with his son as possible After he moves out Chris leaves Stacy to pick up the fragments of their old 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 happy marriages and women in the household In other words if this wasn t a true story this would be the perfect setup for a movie about how one woman s life is just falling apart
However 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 cover story or presiding over an annual Redbook event where presidential candidate John Kerry was the big guest
Eventually Stacy solves most of her problems but her experiences make for an entertaining read
>> Reads like a great novel
This compelling book reads much more like a classic novel than most of today s quickly forgotten memoirs There were many times that the pain was so palpable that that I literally 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 great mom and great writer to the top of her resume
