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Books : Heartburn
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Rating: 
- Palatable but Dated
I'm not really a fan of Nora Ephron -- I find her films to be terribly schmaltzy, and whenever I've heard her on NPR, she inevitably says something inane. So, needless to say, I was not particularly looking forward to reading this novel of hers for my book group. It wasn't until after I picked it up and mentioned it to a friend that I learned it's basically a roman a clef about the dissolution of her marriage to Washington Post reporter Carl Bernstein (of Woodward and Bernstein fame). That gave the brief story a little more resonance and made it somewhat more interesting to read.
The gist of the story is that Rachel (Nora Ephron) is seven months pregnant with her and Mark Feldman's (Carl Bernstein) second child when she discovers that he's been cheating on her with a serial adultress (in real life, British politician Margaret Jay). Over the course of the rest of the book she attempts to deal with this in alternatingly comic and pathetic turns. She flees "home" to mid-town Manhattan, commiserates with her therapy group, commiserates with close friends who may or may not have already known of the infidelity, reminisces about the failure of her first marriage, soldiers on with her semi-celeb cooking career, reminisces about her oddball parents (presumably modeled on her real-life parents who were playwrights, screenwriters, and alcoholics), and sprinkles in various recipes along the way.
It's all perfectly palatable, if rather slapstick and dated, as the idealists of the '60s must confront the banal bourgeois behavior they've slipped into in the '80s. I suspect that readers of that generation may find it rather more entertaining and meaningful than Gen Xers like myself and those in my book group (none of whom were particularly taken with it). I guess the best I can say is that it's brief, and to my surprise I didn't hate it. The book was made into a film of the same name (scripted by Ephron herself), but I doubt I'll be seeing it as it stars two of my least favorite "icons" -- Jack Nicholson and Meryl Streep (yes, I know, heresy...).
Rating:
- for the foodie with a broken heart
Rachel Samstat is 30 something year old, Jewish, cookbook writer from The Bronx, who currently resides with the love of her life, Mark in Washington D.C. They have been together for almost 8 years and still act like they just met . The couple have a two year old son and another on the way.All is well
UNTIL
She accidently finds a love letter from her hubby's apparent girlfriend, and discovers they have been together for nearly a year, They have recently bought a townhouse, and he plans on filing for divorce and leaving Rachel for his Mistress as soon as their child is born.
She wants to works things out, but her husband makes himself scarce and refuses to talk about it. So they separate for a while.. and she basically goes on a quest to figure out what to do..She speaks with her best friend/shrink (think Dr.Phil)and other couples who have battled infidelity and survived.
It might like a bit of a downer, but its truly not, for two reasons.
1. Rachel is a chef and sprinkles comfort food recipes throught the book.The frozen Key lime pie was fabulous.
2.Sometimes she takes a break from the drama and just tells funny stories that make her laugh. My favorite one was about her weird,late, lush of mother who made even stranger casseroles, who once faked being dead ,because she wanted more attention from her spouse and children.
Other funny things included "The Jewish Prince Routine", and the chapter devoted to her nuerotic ex, hamster guy .
Rating:
- Funny and wise
This was made into a movie starring Meryl Streep and Jack Nicholson. The book's much better. It's a wonderfully perceptive, witty, semi-autobiographical portrait of a marriage falling apart. The central character is a cookery writer, and the chapters begin with a real life recipe, that sets the pace of the chapter that follows. It's funny and brilliant, and you wonder how she could go on to write such duff films as Sleepless in Seattle and You've Got Mail. But even if you are a big enough drip to like those movies, you'll still love this.
- Palatable but DatedI'm not really a fan of Nora Ephron -- I find her films to be terribly schmaltzy, and whenever I've heard her on NPR, she inevitably says something inane. So, needless to say, I was not particularly looking forward to reading this novel of hers for my book group. It wasn't until after I picked it up and mentioned it to a friend that I learned it's basically a roman a clef about the dissolution of her marriage to Washington Post reporter Carl Bernstein (of Woodward and Bernstein fame). That gave the brief story a little more resonance and made it somewhat more interesting to read.
The gist of the story is that Rachel (Nora Ephron) is seven months pregnant with her and Mark Feldman's (Carl Bernstein) second child when she discovers that he's been cheating on her with a serial adultress (in real life, British politician Margaret Jay). Over the course of the rest of the book she attempts to deal with this in alternatingly comic and pathetic turns. She flees "home" to mid-town Manhattan, commiserates with her therapy group, commiserates with close friends who may or may not have already known of the infidelity, reminisces about the failure of her first marriage, soldiers on with her semi-celeb cooking career, reminisces about her oddball parents (presumably modeled on her real-life parents who were playwrights, screenwriters, and alcoholics), and sprinkles in various recipes along the way.
It's all perfectly palatable, if rather slapstick and dated, as the idealists of the '60s must confront the banal bourgeois behavior they've slipped into in the '80s. I suspect that readers of that generation may find it rather more entertaining and meaningful than Gen Xers like myself and those in my book group (none of whom were particularly taken with it). I guess the best I can say is that it's brief, and to my surprise I didn't hate it. The book was made into a film of the same name (scripted by Ephron herself), but I doubt I'll be seeing it as it stars two of my least favorite "icons" -- Jack Nicholson and Meryl Streep (yes, I know, heresy...).
Rating:
- for the foodie with a broken heartRachel Samstat is 30 something year old, Jewish, cookbook writer from The Bronx, who currently resides with the love of her life, Mark in Washington D.C. They have been together for almost 8 years and still act like they just met . The couple have a two year old son and another on the way.All is well
UNTIL
She accidently finds a love letter from her hubby's apparent girlfriend, and discovers they have been together for nearly a year, They have recently bought a townhouse, and he plans on filing for divorce and leaving Rachel for his Mistress as soon as their child is born.
She wants to works things out, but her husband makes himself scarce and refuses to talk about it. So they separate for a while.. and she basically goes on a quest to figure out what to do..She speaks with her best friend/shrink (think Dr.Phil)and other couples who have battled infidelity and survived.
It might like a bit of a downer, but its truly not, for two reasons.
1. Rachel is a chef and sprinkles comfort food recipes throught the book.The frozen Key lime pie was fabulous.
2.Sometimes she takes a break from the drama and just tells funny stories that make her laugh. My favorite one was about her weird,late, lush of mother who made even stranger casseroles, who once faked being dead ,because she wanted more attention from her spouse and children.
Other funny things included "The Jewish Prince Routine", and the chapter devoted to her nuerotic ex, hamster guy .
Rating:
- Funny and wiseThis was made into a movie starring Meryl Streep and Jack Nicholson. The book's much better. It's a wonderfully perceptive, witty, semi-autobiographical portrait of a marriage falling apart. The central character is a cookery writer, and the chapters begin with a real life recipe, that sets the pace of the chapter that follows. It's funny and brilliant, and you wonder how she could go on to write such duff films as Sleepless in Seattle and You've Got Mail. But even if you are a big enough drip to like those movies, you'll still love this.
