SPLIT: True Stories About The End of Marriage and What Happens Next

by Katie West (Editor), Bo Abeille (Contributor), Janelle Asselin (Contributor)

Tell someone you’re divorced and they look at you differently. The pity, shame, and sense of failing at something that was only supposed to end in death can be a heavy burden to bear.

But it doesn’t have to be.

This book collects essays written by divorced writers exploring what led them to divorce, how they lived through it, and, perhaps most importantly, who they are now that it’s over. Where often divorce represents loss and a feeling of defeat, these essays provide an alternative: divorce as a catalyst in gaining a new sense of self and the discovery of new ways to define success.

It’s not a how-to guide, but many of the essays provide examples of how life after the end of marriage can still be satisfying despite complications, joyful despite awkwardness, or revelatory despite grief.

Featuring established and emerging writers, the one thing all contributors have in common is they’ve lived through divorce and have offered for this collection moving, challenging, sad, funny, heartbreaking, self-aware reflections of that time in their lives. The writers are from diverse backgrounds and provide essays that are true stories of grief and parenting; of queerness, kink, and compromise; of artistic differences and academic dissonance; of mental health and addiction.

Genres: Nonfiction, Essays

141 pages, Paperback

Published March 31, 2017

About the author

Hello! I was the owner of Fiction & Feeling publishing company; I am now an editor, writer, and sex worker.

http://fictionandfeeling.com
http://therealkatiewest.com

Reviews

[Rachel · Rating 5 out of 5]

I finished it last night, read it in all my spare moments yesterday, accidentally took a 3 hour bath lost in it. Voyeuristic, beautiful, funny (so important to me) and sad.

I've never been divorced, I've never even had a breakup, I'm very happily married, and I felt like I was peeking into a secret club room reading this book. I feel like you can only gain by reading the experiences of others, and each of the essays in this book are individual, whatever your relationship status or situation in life, there is something thought provoking in each story. Having been split adjacent, feeling a bit helpless and mourning the loss of a relationship from the sidelines, this book made me think a lot about being a supportive friend/family member.

[Sonata · Rating 5 out of 5]

I rarely give 5-star reviews so LISTEN UP.

tl;dr This is a compendium of honest, funny, sad, hopeful, and encouraging stories of folks who have gone through divorce and is a must-read for everyone regardless of relationship status. I have much more to say but I'll save it for a blog post. Read it so we can chat about it.

[Paul Greer · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is an incredible book of many intense stories of the process and survival of divorce. It doesn’t sound like a barrel of laughs as a concept but give it time and there’s joy, inspiration, hope, sadness, hilarity, devastation, fun and beauty.
It is an intense read, especially in the knowledge that it is all true, and as someone who has not experienced this directly (I think another reviewer has said this) an incredible window into a world that is not often written about. That intensity might be why it’s taken me so long to finish. I generally have five or so books on the go. I didn’t want to binge this, I wanted to remember each one so I took my time.
Looking forward to other publications from Fiction and Feeling.
Heavily recommended.

[dictura · Rating 5 out of 5]

So I'm just a BIT biased since I worked on this book, but honestly, the authors in this have shared some heartwrenching and hilarious stories (sometimes both at once) and this is very much worth reading.

[Sara (thebookwitchscauldron) · Rating 4 out of 5]

Rating: 4/5 Stars

Review coming soon.