Crazy Aunt Purl's Drunk, Divorced, and Covered in Cat Hair: The True-Life Misadventures of a 30-Something Who Learned to Knit After He Split

by Laurie Perry

If you've ever been dumped, duped, or three minutes from crazy, you'll love Crazy Aunt Purl. Side-splittingly funny and profoundly moving, Drunk, Divorced, and Covered in Cat Hair is the true-life misadventures of Laurie Perry, aka Crazy Aunt Purl, a slightly neurotic, displaced Southerner trying to create a new life after her husband leaves her to 'get his creativity back.' (Whatever that means.) But will she get her groove back in a tiny rented apartment, with a mountain of boxes, visible panty lines, and a slight wine-and-Cheetos problem?

"I was a thirty-something woman living alone with four cats. I was probably going to be divorced. I was on the short bus to crazy. I pictured my grandmother making hoop-skirted yarn cozies for the toilet paper. I pictured myself making doilies for furniture that I did not own. I saw my cats wearing knitted hats with lace appliqués. From my vantage point, knitting seemed like 100 percent of some road I did not want to walk down."

Yet, surprisingly, it's knitting that saves her and emboldens her to become fully engaged in life again--to discover new friends; to take risks, however scary; and to navigate the ins and outs of the modern dating scene.

"Dating has changed in a decade. Now there is a higher chance of meeting someone who has an internet porn addiction than someone who has a job. In Los Angeles, your dinner companion might have served time in Pelican Bay or run a meth lab. Or, worst of all, he might spend all night talking about his agent, his craft, and what it means to grow as an actor. Then he'll ask you to read his screenplay."

And such is life in this quirky, irreverent memoir, a spin-off of the blog phenomenon, www.crazyauntpurl.com, one of the most successful online diaries in history, exploding to an international fan base of enthusiastic readers. But don't worry, you don't have to knit to love Aunt Purl. You just have to know what it feels like to have loved, to have lost, or to have taken a leap of faith. We've all been there: Pass the wine.

Genres: Knitting, Nonfiction, Humor, Memoir, Biography, Crafts, Chick Lit

268 pages, Paperback

First published October 15, 2007

About the author

Laurie Perry is the author of "Drunk, Divorced & Covered In Cat Hair" -- the irreverent first-person narrative of a contemporary, displaced Southern woman facing life after her husband leaves her to "get his creativity back."

She is best known for her online diary, CrazyAuntPurl.com. It's a peek into the daily life of a woman who is trying to figure it all out, whatever "it" may be, with a fine assortment of wines, cats and post-divorce home improvement projects.

Her website has been featured in the Wall Street Journal, The New York Times, MSN.com, and has been nominated for a 2007 Webby Award. Perry has also been spotlighted in ForeWord Magazines ForePlay column, and Vogues "Knit 1" magazine.

Perry was born in Texas and has lived in the bayous of Louisiana, the backwoods of Mississippi, Alabama and Tennessee. She now lives and writes in Los Angeles.

Her book is available in stores nationwide on October 11."

Reviews

[Cyndi · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book is truly hilarious and yet still poignant. I would recommend it to anyone who can see the humor in some of our lowest moments in life and likes the strength it takes a woman to pull herself up and rebuild her life.

Reread June 2018 — My brilliant son convinced an equally brilliant girl to marry him. Since they are brilliant, the two of them joined together to build bookcases into the library of their first home.
I tell you all this not just to brag (although there’s that, too) but to let you know that I borrowed this book from their home library and its great! This book is sweet, funny and has awesome knitting patterns. (BTW my brilliant daughter-in-law is teaching me to knit). With lots of practice I’m hoping to become proficient enough to try some of the patterns. 😘

[Merri Su · Rating 4 out of 5]

I love love love the author's blog (crazyauntpurl.com). While the book seemed like a more edited and moderated version of the author's personal voice, I enjoyed reading it and would recommend it. I'll keep following her blog, though, to feel more connected with her and to get her humor and wit in its raw form.

Having grown up in a "broken" home, I've feared divorce. What I've realized through reading this book and Perry's blog is that fear of a thing doesn't have the power to prevent that thing from happening. Fear of a thing DOES, however, have the power to rob the present moment of its inherent value, of joy, freedom, and fun. I've realized that even if that thing does happen, there is life and hope on the other side. Being a newlywed, I'm committed to enjoying every day, every moment with my husband and not let fear hold me back from being myself, allowing him to be himself, and valuing our marriage right now, today.

[Tim · Rating 2 out of 5]

At first, I thought I really liked her cynical sense of humor, but the book feels too much like a blog than good literature. There were times when I was surprised someone would publish what amounted to crazy drunk stories a friend would tell you about. Also, she focuses too much on traditional female stereotypes, like cute shoes and how "pretty" she feels.

[Tammy · Rating 4 out of 5]

As a lurker of Laurie's blog, I have always enjoyed her witty writing style and her hilarious sense of humor.

I was slightly disappointed to see that this book was in the self-help section of my local bookstore. You do not have to be going thru a divorce or a member of a knitting group to enjoy Laurie's story.

I am not a knitter by any means, but I do own a couple of cats and love a good glass of wine!

[Knitknucklehead · Rating 5 out of 5]

I ventured over to B&N the other night and stumbled upon a small knitting group. It was encouraging for me to get out and meet new people. They were lovely ladies and I intend to go back again to sit a spell and knit. But when it was time for the group to expire, I wasn't quite ready to go home. This was my first venture out to meet new people since Honey left and I wasn't my happy bubbly self and felt really lonely as the night threatened to come to an end. Of course being in a bookstore led me to dreaming about all the wonderful books out there that I've been wanting to read. But the loneliness was kicking in and I felt that keeping my mind on anything written might just take more energy than I had at the moment. That is until I stumbled upon Crazy Aunt Purl. The title jumped out at me screaming for me to dive into the pages of what really seemed to be my life, minus all the cats. Each page had me wondering, "How in the world did Laurie get into my mind and read my thoughts and feelings so well?" And "How wonderful is it that she's able to put a hilarious spin to all of it!" Grant it I already knew how to knit prior to Honey leaving but this is a fantastically wonderfully written book for all knitters going through crap in their life.

[Jennifer · Rating 4 out of 5]

I was actually sad when I finished this book because I wanted it to keep on going. I love how honest Laurie is with her writing style and how she can make the deepest throws of depression funny in retrospect.

I picked this up because I had read her blog once or twice and because the title of this book is one of the best titles ever. I think I expected the book to be more knitting and less relationship - self-help oriented, but it was still a really great book even though it wasn't what I thought I was getting into. I checked out the back of the book and noticed the catagories on the back are Relationships/Crafts/Knitting. I guess that should have been a clue that the focus of the book is more toward relationships and less toward knitting. Also the publisher is Health Communications, Inc. and if I am not mistaken that is a publisher more geared toward self-help relationship books than knitting know how.

All that being said, there are 14 projects in the back of the book (I LOVE the Cat Tunnel! Clever!!!) so it's still going to go on my Knitting shelf. And on my "keepers" shelf. And I think I will be lurking on Laurie's blog a lot more often.

www.crazyauntpurl.com

[Zoe · Rating 2 out of 5]

I get it, I really do. Its hard being a publisher - you would not believe how many perfectly good books are turned down because a publisher doesn't know how to market them.

That said, this was a perfectly good book about a divorce the writer didn't see coming and how she climbed out of the hole of depression it left her in. I would highly recommend it to people who have been divorced.

Unfortunately, it wasn't really marketed to people who have been divorced (a niche market, to be sure). It was marketed to knitters. Apparently, the writer does have a blog about her knitting, and I think she mentions it on one of the maybe 9 pages where knitting is mentioned, but that's it. As a knitter who wanted to read about yet another persons love of knitting and how they use it in their lives to relax and de-stress, it just didn't have enough knitting in it. The writing was alright, and at times quite funny, but as a whole, the book was diluted because, frankly, I kept waiting for the knitting part to start.

[Amanda · Rating 4 out of 5]

Read it and like it a lot. For any woman who ever found herself with everything she thought she was supposed to want, lost it and needs to find out what she REALLY wants - this is the book for you. Touching and also very funny stuff.
Laurie Perry writes with a lovely unforced style. She's Southern through and through and it shows.

[Toni · Rating 2 out of 5]

Fun, and sometimes really funny, but I found myself getting tired of the author's inability to be on her own, and after the 7th or 8th time she used "eleventy----" instead of "a hundred and.........." I found myself thinking it was probably why her husband divorced her. How long could one truly live with someone who insists on talking like a hobbit?

[Andi M. · Rating 4 out of 5]

Love this book! While it might initially look or sound like fluffy, Perry's story is really quite thoughtful, sad, and ultimately enlightening. And it's hilllllarious!

[Buckeyebet · Rating 3 out of 5]

The book made me laugh and cringe at different times. I could relate to lines about being hard to connect with people in the LA area.

[Tay · Rating 5 out of 5]

Funny! Heartwarming and inspiring.

[Laura · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is an adult story about coping when a really bad day at work is followed by an even worse evening at home. Followed shortly by more bad news, when one can not stay in bed with the covers pulled over your head. This is an only slightly fictionalized account of actual events.


The story begins with a dissolution of a relationship with one party (Laurie) being totally unprepared. Her husband moves out, taking only what he desires to include in his new life, leaving all the physical baggage of their marriage behind and four cats too.

Laurie shares her progress of learning to cope from not admitting to coworkers that things have changed, through memories of childhood experiences that shaped her as an adult, with humor and a little wine. Maybe a lot of wine.
Topics covered range from stress eating to hair removal and decluttering and learning to reach out to people, make new friends and even try dating.

Learning to knit was one of the ways Laurie coped with the changes in her life.
At times her attempt to master knitting and take back control over something in her life may have gotten out of hand.

I read this book in less than two days. It was an easy read with short chapters.
The first day I read most of the book and finished it the following evening.

[Carrie Rolph · Rating 2 out of 5]

My favorite Crazy Aunt Purl entry is the one about the bus catching fire. She took pictures of herself on the side of the 5, in front of a smoking bus.

Unfortunately, that entry is not in this book. There aren't any captioned pictures of her cats in the book either. The book is mostly just a collection of her early blog entries, strangely edited down so they're not as compelling. Most chapters (if one can call them that) are about a page and a half to three pages long, even when the same subject is spanning several of these little sections. It's feels like it's still one draft away from being a book with actual, cohesive chapters. The structure is there. The final draft just never happened.

She goes into more dating detail in the book than she has on the blog, and it was worth reading just for her adventures with Robert, the poor patient man at the hardware store, who built a flower bed for her before she foisted her phone number on him and fled the building in embarrassment. The rest of the book? Read the archives of her blog and get the original, it's better.

[Jennifer Defoy · Rating 4 out of 5]

I liked this book alot. I thought that the writing was witty. Quite a few times I would start laughing and my dog would perk her ears up and give me that look like "what are you doing?"

Having been through a break-up (not a divorce, but a long-term relationship break-up) I could relate to just about everything that she was saying. And for me being able to relate to the characters is one of my must-have features for a book to be enjoyable. Also being that it was a book about knitting, I knew all of the struggles that she was going through. Not sleeping because you just want to finish one more row (that inevitably turns in to 20 or 50)!

I think that this is a good pick-me up book. If you're down it can make you laugh, which is always a good thing to me. While reading I found myself laughing not so much because she was going through it, but because I have gone through the same things.

I would recommend this book to anyone going through a tough break-up, a knitter, or just someone looking for something amusing to read.

[sjams · Rating 2 out of 5]

I was a little disappointed in this book, to be honest. For a book that's about as well-read as Stephanie Pearl-McPhee's books in the knitting world, I thought it would be more like Pearl-McPhee's: knitting, which uncovered truths about humanity in general. I didn't find that as much in this book. Instead, a memoir of a woman going through a hard time and shaping back up. She didn't even really do a lot of knitting in the book, but threw in some patterns in the end so it would be read by the knitting audience. The instances where Perry tried to be funny came off as flat to me, and I couldn't figure out why *I* was reading this. Out of curiosity about a well-read book, yes, but was there anything in it for someone who isn't 30-something and has never even been married? Other than don't get married, he might break you? I don't really think so.

Well, now I know what this book is about, at least.

[Debbie is on Storygraph · Rating 2 out of 5]

A ravelry friend recommended this and Perry's follow-up book to me ages ago, and I immediately bought them. They had been sitting on my shelf since and I finally pulled down the first one. Because I'm also doing the 2016 PopSugar reading challenge and one of the items was a book with a protagonist with your occupation. I have a really oddball specialized job with basically a zero percent chance of it being shared by a main character of any book, so I went for the next best thing: a knitting crazy cat lady.

This is Laurie Perry, aka Crazy Aunt Purl, telling her story of recovering from her husband leaving her. She is pretty frank about spiraling into a depressive funk fueled by alcohol, and eventually clawing her way out via the power of good friends and discovering knitting as a hobby.

Overall, this was an okay book. I wouldn't go out of my way to recommend it to anybody. It seemed more cathartic than anything for Perry to write. I'm not sure if I'll read the second book or not.

[Josie · Rating 5 out of 5]

I had a problem putting this book down, to the point that I read the whole thing in less than 18 hours

Very engaging, and laugh-out-loud moments through out the book. Ms. Perry has a humorous way of turning a phrase to describe a situation ... or person. For example, when describing her first foray into knitting, she described the class as consisting "of four nice people and one crazy Crackerness McCracker and her friend". This still has me snickering, hours after I first read it.

In all truth, it describes the journey of one woman who finds herself after her husband decides he needs to "find his creativity" again.

And it all started with some very caring, and supportive friends, and one knitting class.

[Esme · Rating 2 out of 5]

I thought this might be a fun little read, and I am interested in knitting and I've got cats, so I picked this book up at the Goodwill for a $1. I thought her humor was a little threadbare and I had a really hard time relating to her experiences. So you never knew how much money you had, were unable to budget, and you never paid the bills before your husband left? That's very unfortunate. Please don't assume that all women are as clueless as you were. Most of us have been successfully managing our own finances since we started working. I realized after I bought it that this publisher is the same one who does the Chicken Soup for the Soul books, so there is not much more here than easy to swallow life-affirming platitudes for the extremely sheltered or naive.

[Beth F · Rating 3 out of 5]

As someone who buys into the belief that knitting can absolutely be therapeutic, I appreciated this book very much. And divorce or no divorce, there are all sorts of life 'events' that can bring out the crazy in all of us.

The knitting recipes in the back of the book are great--I love the fact that they're all basic enough that the addition of alcohol won't necessarily harm the project (I've been known to commit drunk knitting myself and can't even begin to explain how many times I've had to frog my progress!)

I'm especially a fan of the knitted cat tube and the bracelet bags are ingenious. I must make one or seven ASAP.

[Amy · Rating 3 out of 5]

This was a fun book. I really enjoy Crazy Aunt Purl's blog and this is more of the same. I like her conversational writing style.

[Rachielle Sheffler · Rating 3 out of 5]

I was looking for a pattern for a slouchy beanie hat, and found Laurie Perry's page. Saw that she had written a book base on her blog. Funny, witty and naughty. I just wanted to root for her.

[Karen · Rating 4 out of 5]

Totally enjoyed this walk through her coming of age thru divorce story.

[Diane · Rating 4 out of 5]

Serious subject - being "jettisoned" and subsequent divorce - but handled with such humor and grace. Great read.

[Sue · Rating 4 out of 5]

This memoir by the blogger who calls herself Crazy Aunt Purl is entertaining. As the book opens, Perry is a childless 30-something wife, bank worker and cat lover whose husband has just declared an end to their marriage. She goes into a tailspin in which she eats, drinks, and mopes a lot as she hides away at home with her four felines—the only thing she gets out of the divorce settlement. A friend encourages her to try knitting as a way to work out of her grief, and it works. She becomes a knitting fool, makes new friends at the Stitch N Bitch group, and eventually finds her way into her new single life. This is a light-hearted book, good for pandemic reading. Amusing. Entertaining. Funny in the gloomy parts, a little preachy in the happy parts. It also includes a selection of knitting patterns for those who want to take the knit-purl cure. I was tempted to blow the dust off my needles, but decided to rearrange the house instead.

[Carolyn · Rating 5 out of 5]

I finally finished this book on July 14, 2020, @ 1:30 A.M. Chapter 44 on page 193. The rest are pages for knitting recipes from page 196 to 254. There are colored photos on which items to knit. It was a self-help to her a newly divorced self, seeing the world thru her eyes, trying to figure out why her husband left her for someone else. She is single, lives with 4 cats, loves to drink red wine, at times it was funny. Made new friends by knitting in clubs. If you like to knit this is a book for you. I just bought her 2nd book: Home Is Where the Wine Is: Making the Most of What You've Got One Stitch (and Cocktail!) at a Time Paperback – February 1, 2010

[Lynne - The Book Squirrel · Rating 5 out of 5]

I related so much to this. Especially the loneliness you can feel within a marriage. I’m not divorced but have lived separately from my hubby for the past 11 years. Only visiting each other, chatting and texting and although I do get odd looks from some people and family about our living arrangements it suits us well and we have great times together and we have something to tell each other rather than long silences.

[Catsalive · Rating 3 out of 5]

A bit of a laugh, although I doubt it was all fun & games at the time. Something of a warts-and-all look at how the author coped, or not, when her husband walked out of their marriage. Knitting became a strategy to keep her moving forward, an excellent mindfulness exercise, indeed; & a knitting group got her out of herself and into the world again. It also slows down the drinking, smoking & drunk-calling. A humorous & poignant memoir that I enjoyed very much.

[Min · Rating 2 out of 5]

Ho hum. What a disappointment. The sad story of two self-absorbed people and how their marriage went on the rocks. The disgusting chapter on depilatory methods turned my stomach. The cats are barely mentioned. This is an exercise in navel gazing! P.S. I was unaware the author is a knitting blogger, and I took a chance on this book. Too bad.

[Beverly · Rating 3 out of 5]

An amusing tale that many would likely relate to. Despite the reference to cats, they play a small part in the story. Knitting, and the connections knitting can create, plays a larger role in the story.