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Outtakes from a Marriage: A Novel
Julia and Joe Ferraro are living the good life in Manhattan now that Joe’s finally made it; he’s the star of a hit TV show and has just been nominated for a Golden Globe award. After many lean years, they’ve got a grand Upper West Side apartment and an Amagansett beach house, and their two kids go to elite private schools. Even better, Julia and Joe are still madly in love.
Or so Julia thinks until the fateful evening when she accidentally hears a voice mail on Joe’s phone— a message left by a sultry-sounding woman who clearly isn’t just a friend. Suddenly Julia is in a tailspin, compulsively checking Joe’s messages, stalking him in cyberspace, and showing up unannounced on his sets, wondering all along if she should confront him. Julia’s search forces her to consider the possibility that in the long process of helping Joe become something, she has become a bit of a “nothing,” as her daughter once described her to her class on career day. A big husband-stalking nothing.
When Julia and Joe first met, she was an edgy East Village girl who wrote music reviews for the Village Voice and threw famed parties in a gritty downtown loft with her friends. Joe was a shy, awkward drama student who followed her around like a lovesick spaniel. After he won her heart, Julia helped Joe evolve into a roguishly handsome charmer who became increasingly obsessed with his looks and his career. Julia, meanwhile, settled into doting motherhood and a new life of comfy clothes and parenting associations.
Now, faced with the looming awards show and the possibility of a destroyed marriage, Julia embarks on an accelerated self-improvement routine of Botox, hair extensions, and erotically charged shrink sessions while dodging the sancti-mommies who lie in wait for her at her son’s preschool each day.
A unique take on the perennially popular issue of women trying not to lose themselves in matrimony and motherhood, Outtakes from a Marriage is expertly and humorously set against the Manhattan preschool mafia, the Hollywood machine, and the ticking clock of a waiting red carpet.
From the Hardcover edition.
Or so Julia thinks until the fateful evening when she accidentally hears a voice mail on Joe’s phone— a message left by a sultry-sounding woman who clearly isn’t just a friend. Suddenly Julia is in a tailspin, compulsively checking Joe’s messages, stalking him in cyberspace, and showing up unannounced on his sets, wondering all along if she should confront him. Julia’s search forces her to consider the possibility that in the long process of helping Joe become something, she has become a bit of a “nothing,” as her daughter once described her to her class on career day. A big husband-stalking nothing.
When Julia and Joe first met, she was an edgy East Village girl who wrote music reviews for the Village Voice and threw famed parties in a gritty downtown loft with her friends. Joe was a shy, awkward drama student who followed her around like a lovesick spaniel. After he won her heart, Julia helped Joe evolve into a roguishly handsome charmer who became increasingly obsessed with his looks and his career. Julia, meanwhile, settled into doting motherhood and a new life of comfy clothes and parenting associations.
Now, faced with the looming awards show and the possibility of a destroyed marriage, Julia embarks on an accelerated self-improvement routine of Botox, hair extensions, and erotically charged shrink sessions while dodging the sancti-mommies who lie in wait for her at her son’s preschool each day.
A unique take on the perennially popular issue of women trying not to lose themselves in matrimony and motherhood, Outtakes from a Marriage is expertly and humorously set against the Manhattan preschool mafia, the Hollywood machine, and the ticking clock of a waiting red carpet.
From the Hardcover edition.
274 pages, Kindle Edition
First published January 1, 2008
61 people are currently reading
1254 people want to read
About the author
Ann Leary
11 books1,119 followersAnn Leary is the author of the novels, THE CHILDREN, THE GOOD HOUSE, OUTTAKES FROM A MARRIAGE, and the memoir, AN INNOCENT, A BROAD.
Her bestselling novel, THE GOOD HOUSE, has recently been adapted as a motion picture starring Sigourney Weaver and Kevin Kline. Ann’s New York Times essay, “Rallying to Keep the Game Alive,” was adapted for Amazon Prime's Modern Love TV Series and stars Tina Fey and John Slattery. Her work has been translated into eighteen languages and she has written for numerous publications including Ploughshares, NPR, Real Simple and the New York Times.
Her new novel, THE FOUNDLING, will be published on May 31, 2022.
Ann and her husband Denis Leary live in New York.
Her bestselling novel, THE GOOD HOUSE, has recently been adapted as a motion picture starring Sigourney Weaver and Kevin Kline. Ann’s New York Times essay, “Rallying to Keep the Game Alive,” was adapted for Amazon Prime's Modern Love TV Series and stars Tina Fey and John Slattery. Her work has been translated into eighteen languages and she has written for numerous publications including Ploughshares, NPR, Real Simple and the New York Times.
Her new novel, THE FOUNDLING, will be published on May 31, 2022.
Ann and her husband Denis Leary live in New York.
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 260 reviews
April 9, 2009
The wife of an actor just nominated for a television Golden Globe award accidentally discovers that her husband may be having an affair. Or is she just being paranoid? Our protagonist tries to discover the truth while revealing scenes both current and past regarding the state of her marriage.
There is a stereotypical botox scenario, but this book by the wife of a famous actor (Dennis Leary) is not a woman-scorned-writes-scathing-revenge-dirt thinly disguised as fiction book usually seen coming out of the entertainment industry. For one thing, she has been with her huband for 25 years and they are still married in real life. This is a statistic quite unusual for Hollywood, and that experience she brings to her writing makes for an absorbing read. Without giving it away, I can say I found the ending to be both an unsatisfying lack of conclusion as well as an extremely satisfying way to end a book about real marriage.
There is a stereotypical botox scenario, but this book by the wife of a famous actor (Dennis Leary) is not a woman-scorned-writes-scathing-revenge-dirt thinly disguised as fiction book usually seen coming out of the entertainment industry. For one thing, she has been with her huband for 25 years and they are still married in real life. This is a statistic quite unusual for Hollywood, and that experience she brings to her writing makes for an absorbing read. Without giving it away, I can say I found the ending to be both an unsatisfying lack of conclusion as well as an extremely satisfying way to end a book about real marriage.
September 23, 2015
I think I should say that I think this was a little bit better than 3 stars, so I'll give it 3.5. This was a spontaneous 'grab' for me at the library. I had wanted her book, 'The Good House' but it was checked out so I took this instead. It was quick, easy, a bit humorous type of story that I'm sure was somewhat based (but not too much hopefully) on the author's marriage to Denis Leary. If you are looking for an 'inside' look at a woman married to a television star that is painless and quick, I can recommend it. I wasn't expecting much and it was a bit better than I expected, so I will continue to read her other books.
March 24, 2017
Just sort of ... ended. Good until then but left you hanging
March 19, 2017
4 stars - It was great. I loved it.
There is something about Leary’s writing that I absolutely adore. Even with a semi-cliché plotline, the woman makes it fresh, makes me think, and makes me laugh.
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Favorite Quote:Ruby is a vegan, which is, in my mind, just a glamorous way of saying that she hates food.
First Sentence: First of all, he’s a Joe.
There is something about Leary’s writing that I absolutely adore. Even with a semi-cliché plotline, the woman makes it fresh, makes me think, and makes me laugh.
-------------------------------------------
Favorite Quote:Ruby is a vegan, which is, in my mind, just a glamorous way of saying that she hates food.
First Sentence: First of all, he’s a Joe.
March 2, 2013
I enjoyed the insights into being a celebrity wife. The author, who is married to Denis Leary, obviously knows what she is talking about. It is also a well written book with humor and intelligence woven into the heroine. My problem with it is there really isn't much of a plot going on. The whole story revolves around her hearing a voicemail message on her husband's phone from another woman. The entire novel is her wondering if he is or isn't cheating on her. The outcome of that is obvious from the start and it's hard to buy a smart lady like her would not see it. I look forward to reading other books by her but I hope that she gives her characters a bit more story to work with.
August 20, 2014
I don't write a lot of reviews, haven't really gotten into the swing of things yet
but this book! ugh
it was a whole lot of nothing that literally went no where. it didn't end
it's quick reading, well written, but GOES NOWHERE
I was rather disappointed
but this book! ugh
it was a whole lot of nothing that literally went no where. it didn't end
it's quick reading, well written, but GOES NOWHERE
I was rather disappointed
June 30, 2013
I read this after Leary's other book (the one about the house - The Good House?) and man, I am not at all sure they are the same person. This book, while also three star worthy, was a whole lot funnier (whereas the other one seemed trying to be, at times, and overly dark and brooding, otherwise) though it had, if anything, even less of a point.
OFAM reminded me a lot of I Don't Know How She Does It, even though the protagonists were opposites - in IDK, the woman was a workaholic mom who was juggling hedge funds and bath time, and here, Julia is a woman with two kids, one a teen, no job, and full time help. But it was more the style - both books were funny in an exaggerated way but then took on heavy topics where there is no real humor - infidelity - and things shifted but it was hard to take the book seriously since the author didn't seem to be, and so you end up feeling sort of cheated and stranged and oddly disturbed.
OFAM is about Julia and Joe, two disheveled young people who end up making it huge when Joe's acting career takes off. Obviously there are rags to riches people out there, but something about opening a book and reading celebrity names and about fancy apartments and Hollywood parties just makes whatver the book is about cheaper - I am not sure why that is but it is.
Anyway, Julia never seems to catch up to her new life - she is a bit frumpy, has not yet figured out what she wants to do with her life - and one night she overhears a breathy, incriminating female voice on her husband's voice mail.
The book continues to be funny, though, as well as perplexing, as, rather than, say, confront Joe, Julia just simmers about it and obsesses over it while being business as usual, wife-wise. In the meantime, the book takes on a ton of tangents - Julia's petty issues with the stereotypical trophy wives at her son's Montessori day care, her efforts to turn back the clock as she gets hair extensions and Botox, her weird encounter with a dad at the park that seemed significant but wasn't - and then just when it seems the both pressing and peripheral marital issue is resolved, things turn around, and so does the book, in like seriously the last five pages, the tone completely shifting.
I am perplexed about this book that was about so many and few things all at once, that touched on deeply felt things but in a tone that was often inappropriate or at least not commensurate and so nothing was really said. I enjoyed it, ultimately, for its humor and eye for detail, but it was not a book that could be taken seriously, and yet it demanded it.
OFAM reminded me a lot of I Don't Know How She Does It, even though the protagonists were opposites - in IDK, the woman was a workaholic mom who was juggling hedge funds and bath time, and here, Julia is a woman with two kids, one a teen, no job, and full time help. But it was more the style - both books were funny in an exaggerated way but then took on heavy topics where there is no real humor - infidelity - and things shifted but it was hard to take the book seriously since the author didn't seem to be, and so you end up feeling sort of cheated and stranged and oddly disturbed.
OFAM is about Julia and Joe, two disheveled young people who end up making it huge when Joe's acting career takes off. Obviously there are rags to riches people out there, but something about opening a book and reading celebrity names and about fancy apartments and Hollywood parties just makes whatver the book is about cheaper - I am not sure why that is but it is.
Anyway, Julia never seems to catch up to her new life - she is a bit frumpy, has not yet figured out what she wants to do with her life - and one night she overhears a breathy, incriminating female voice on her husband's voice mail.
The book continues to be funny, though, as well as perplexing, as, rather than, say, confront Joe, Julia just simmers about it and obsesses over it while being business as usual, wife-wise. In the meantime, the book takes on a ton of tangents - Julia's petty issues with the stereotypical trophy wives at her son's Montessori day care, her efforts to turn back the clock as she gets hair extensions and Botox, her weird encounter with a dad at the park that seemed significant but wasn't - and then just when it seems the both pressing and peripheral marital issue is resolved, things turn around, and so does the book, in like seriously the last five pages, the tone completely shifting.
I am perplexed about this book that was about so many and few things all at once, that touched on deeply felt things but in a tone that was often inappropriate or at least not commensurate and so nothing was really said. I enjoyed it, ultimately, for its humor and eye for detail, but it was not a book that could be taken seriously, and yet it demanded it.
November 14, 2010
I read this book in its entirety last night; I couldn't really sleep and it was entertaining enough for good company. I got this new at a discount store for $1.00 so didn't have extremely high hopes, then when I realized it was written by the wife of a comedian my hopes sunk pretty low. Famous people's wives probably have an easier time getting a book deal - nepotism is alive and well!
To my surprise, this book was amusing and fun and accepts itself as being just that, with no delusions of grandeur. The main character is witty, sympathetic, and believable. There's no attempts to apologize for her imperfections; in fact, her struggle is with becoming a real person again after spending years in the public eye.
A pleasant read indeed!
To my surprise, this book was amusing and fun and accepts itself as being just that, with no delusions of grandeur. The main character is witty, sympathetic, and believable. There's no attempts to apologize for her imperfections; in fact, her struggle is with becoming a real person again after spending years in the public eye.
A pleasant read indeed!
January 11, 2013
I thought this book sounded interesting. The wife of an actor and how she lost herself as she was trying to make him famous and busy being a mom. Although I liked her writing styel and it kept me interested enough to finish in a couple of days, I felt like I kept waiting for her to do something to regain her life back and have some sort of plan for the future. But that never happens and then the book just kind of ends. Would have liked an epilogue to see what happens.
August 9, 2008
This was way better than it needed to be -- well written, involving, funny. But man, I hope it's not based TOO much on real life, because I'd hate to think Denis Leary is as big a pig as John Edwards.
May 22, 2016
Good story idea, bad execution. Too many flash backs kept my head spinning. The ending stank...it just ended. Poof. Like what the heck happened with them???
June 9, 2010
If you're married with children you'll get a good laugh from this book. The experience of being married to an actor is written realistically since the author is actually married to an actor, Denis Leary.
The book is from the point of view of Julia, the stay-at-home mom of Joe Ferraro, star of a hit t.v. show. Julia accidentally listens to Joe's cell phone messages, one of which is a seductive message left by a female. She becomes wrapped up in trying to figure out who the woman could be and continues to listen to his messages. Leary writes with humor on a serious subject. The reactions of the characters is simplistic and not typical of how someone would react in a situation of infidelity, however it's not meant to be a serious novel. It's meant to be light-hearted. I enjoyed it.
The book is from the point of view of Julia, the stay-at-home mom of Joe Ferraro, star of a hit t.v. show. Julia accidentally listens to Joe's cell phone messages, one of which is a seductive message left by a female. She becomes wrapped up in trying to figure out who the woman could be and continues to listen to his messages. Leary writes with humor on a serious subject. The reactions of the characters is simplistic and not typical of how someone would react in a situation of infidelity, however it's not meant to be a serious novel. It's meant to be light-hearted. I enjoyed it.
October 20, 2012
I was prepared to enjoy it based on the good reviews on other blogs, but I didn’t. I never connected with Julia and the only time I really liked her was when she interacted with Mr. Mom because she showed some depth. I understand that this was the point being made, that she lost herself in the marriage, but there was so little spark to the character that I was bored with her botox, hair extensions, and recollections of better times with Joe. There was no real sense that the story was going anywhere and the end proved that true, in my opinion.
there's more on my blog http://stacybuckeye.wordpress.com/200...
there's more on my blog http://stacybuckeye.wordpress.com/200...
February 5, 2009
A pretty light weight book that could have been even lighter, by cutting about 50 pages. I liked her writing but there wasn't much to the story.
June 26, 2017
Funny and entertaining; a little disappointed by the ending, but overall a good summer read.
January 18, 2024
This was a DNF for me
March 7, 2024
Would have been a satisfying bio\marital study....if we had not been left brutally swinging in the breeze! I realize this is very personal and it's her life, their life and relationship .But why start the story and not finish it? Obviously they are still together ....🤷
Perhaps this could have been helpful for others in the same situation. ...if it were not so ...self limiting..me attempting restraint....
The last few pages she does confront him finally after he initially lied and he makes an admission The usual stuff ..she was a hanger on wouldn't leave alone It happened... Seems far from truthful as there were many phone messages,this was clearly ongoing. He then states that she was his first love and will be the last...they go to Golden Globes..rhetoric is then metaphorical? Offers mildly suggestive puzzle pieces.. Not the appropriate time to be artsy,imo...
OK I googled the situation and it is rumored that He had an affair with Liz Hurley But now the claim is that the whole thing is fictional.I call Bs...why purposely select so similar a storyline,events,timing....and horrendous ending? Uggh...😜
I feel guilty as if I should be more compassionate, but hey....despite what I had been led to believe, word is it's fictional and they remain a couple.... Now I'm babbling ...so over and out!😂
Perhaps this could have been helpful for others in the same situation. ...if it were not so ...self limiting..me attempting restraint....
The last few pages she does confront him finally after he initially lied and he makes an admission The usual stuff ..she was a hanger on wouldn't leave alone It happened... Seems far from truthful as there were many phone messages,this was clearly ongoing. He then states that she was his first love and will be the last...they go to Golden Globes..rhetoric is then metaphorical? Offers mildly suggestive puzzle pieces.. Not the appropriate time to be artsy,imo...
OK I googled the situation and it is rumored that He had an affair with Liz Hurley But now the claim is that the whole thing is fictional.I call Bs...why purposely select so similar a storyline,events,timing....and horrendous ending? Uggh...😜
I feel guilty as if I should be more compassionate, but hey....despite what I had been led to believe, word is it's fictional and they remain a couple.... Now I'm babbling ...so over and out!😂
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
March 20, 2017
I read this on a plane ride because it was $1.99 on Amazon at the time and I wanted something very easy to focus on. It was thoroughly in the genre of "rich white New Yorker wife has angst she creates because she's insecure and her world crumbles while she falls apart because she's got anger over being rich and white with a possible cheating husband."
While engagingly written, it's not my favorite genre to read because it's so much like what else I've read mocking other uptight mothers, mocking the school system that they are all complicit in, mocking their need for psych care bc of their own insecurities, and mocking the lengths to which rich white women worry about and try to delay aging.
It was, however, engaging to read if you can overlook the cliches of the plot. The ending knocked off a star for me: abrupt and unsatisfying.
While engagingly written, it's not my favorite genre to read because it's so much like what else I've read mocking other uptight mothers, mocking the school system that they are all complicit in, mocking their need for psych care bc of their own insecurities, and mocking the lengths to which rich white women worry about and try to delay aging.
It was, however, engaging to read if you can overlook the cliches of the plot. The ending knocked off a star for me: abrupt and unsatisfying.
August 13, 2009
Enjoyable summer vacation reading. I related to and chuckled over the upper west side references to snooty, high-brow preschool education, sanctimommies, playground politics and shopping at Fairway... I could also relate to the main character's panicky inertia and stressful loss of self as a mother. The story itself didn't fully engage me, as the enormity of her husband's potential extramarital affair seemed to be taken with a comical grain of salt. I must have been living under a rock when this was released, because I had no idea who the author was or who she's married to until I read the back jacket blurb, so of course now I wonder if there's any element of truth to it. Regardless, fun summer vacation reading.
June 17, 2008
on a very boring night sitting the adult desk i picked this up. i think because the title reminded me of scenes from a marriage which i love. then i stayed up till 2am to finish it. the only point to the book is that you have to figure out with whom who this woman's husband is cheating. the characters are annoying manhattanites who are just in the way but i just NEEDED to put up with them to find out who she was.
OH it also had one of those total cop out endings that sucked, and that's not an opinion...no human would be satisfied with this ending.
still, it gets 4 stars because it hypnotized me with it's scandalousness.
OH it also had one of those total cop out endings that sucked, and that's not an opinion...no human would be satisfied with this ending.
still, it gets 4 stars because it hypnotized me with it's scandalousness.
October 2, 2017
Outtakes. The very first word in the title suggests subpar. Scenes that didn't make the final cut. There were a few parts of this book that were good. Too few. I got aggravated at the superficial people and the obnoxious behavior of the daughter. Do people really allow their children to act like that? Sadly, I know they do. I see these children and the adults they grow into, daily, behaving badly.... but I digress. Back to the book... I just learned of this author and had such high hopes. Maybe I'll try another book of hers, in time. On this one, I feel I wasted precious reading time on outtakes.
July 8, 2009
Great summertime beach read. Easy to get into, I could have devoured this in one sitting, if I had had the time. But that just meant I got to escape into the lives of Joe & Julia for a few days.
If you are looking for an easy piece of escapism, this book is for you. Don't have high expectations, just grab a cold beverage, beach chair and enjoy!
If you are looking for an easy piece of escapism, this book is for you. Don't have high expectations, just grab a cold beverage, beach chair and enjoy!
July 29, 2009
clever and insightful, although kind of predictable (but that's what happens when you describe real life). This book is like a witty documentary about life on the Upper West Side of Manhattan. My favorite part: the scene at the playground on Riverside Drive, with the moms overprotecting their kids while the dad ignores his daughter and reads the newspaper.
December 5, 2009
If you are looking for something easy and funny this book is it. You go through the life of Julia as she finds out very early on that her husband may possibly be having an affair. At times you want to cry for Julia and other times you want to laugh with her. In the end you will feel a connection with her. Very good book!
September 2, 2010
Another book-on-CD paradox--a book I wouldn't normally read, I'll listen to in the car because my library's selection is minimal. Despite cliches and overdone descriptions, the discovery of infidelity and how crazy it makes one was spot-on so I followed harried Julia to the end. I've listened to far worse novels.
January 7, 2019
I enjoyed the voyeur aspect to this novel. It was fun to read about the inside track of celebrity news. Leary is a very versatile writer and wrote this novel well enough that it read like literature, and not gossip. The characters were not perfect by any means, but that was part of the reality I enjoyed.
Want to read
June 8, 2008Written by actor Denis Leary's wife, this work of fiction details a woman who is married to an A-list actor. I'm dying to get a little peak into a celebrity marriage...surely there are many things based on fact ;)
June 1, 2022
The main character tended to wander off into totally unrelated memories during the middle of scenes that made the narrative difficult to follow. The story could be summed up reading the first few pages and the last few pages. Unsatisfactory and unclear ending.
March 4, 2013
This book did not hold my attention at all...to be honest I didn't get past page 75. I just kept asking myself why I was still reading it...so I stopped.
May 6, 2017
The ending was disappointing.
Displaying 1 - 30 of 260 reviews